Latin In
Don’ t let your foolish peers in Spanish or French or Mandarin tell you that Latin is useless, because it’ s not. I use Latin all the time: in life, on tests, and in other classes!
THE
WILD
Phoebe Bong, Central Gubernator
I even used it on the PSAT, which was a stressful nightmare of a test. There was a vocab-based question in the reading and writing section that I didn’ t know the answer to. I needed a word that meant“ to make better.” I eliminated 2 / 4 of the words. Then, I scrutinized the remaining options. One of them was“ ameliorate” and the other was another word that I didn’ t know.
“ I was only able to figure it out because I know my Latin comparative adverbs.”
You can probably tell by now that the answer was“ ameliorate.” BUT I was only able to figure it out because I know my Latin comparative adverbs. In“ ameliorate” is the Latin word for“ better”: melius. I briefly worried that the prefix a- was from a / ab( away from), not ad( towards), but I took my chances. Later, I googled the word and I was right! This is proof that learning your comparative adverbs is directly proportional to your PSAT score!!
I’ m studying Hamlet in English class this year. Guess what: even Danish princes know Latin!
Perplexed by the ghost of his father( whose voice comes from all around and under the stage), Hamlet exclaims: Hic et ubique? The kind editors at Folger Shakespeare translated the Latin in the notes for my non-Latinites. I, however, didn’ t need to look at that to know that it was“ Here and everywhere?”( side note: this quote is on page 67 of the Folger edition of Hamlet)
Like the ghost of Hamlet Sr., Latin is hic et ubique: here and everywhere. 8