Anybody who chooses to spend their time studding a dead language such as Latin has to have a sense of humor. I took four years of it myself in high school. Just take a look at some of the books published in Latin: Winnie Ille Pooh (Winnie The Pooh), Cattus Petasatus (The Cat In The Hat), and Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. You can even sing Baby Got Back in Latin.
I have two favorite Latin phrases. The first I heard at this Latin festival of sorts where a group of students performed a short, funny sketch. One of the lines was "quid in Hades summus?" which means "where in the Hell are we?" The other was taught to me by my uncle: "ubi dubi exflagelatto” which means "when in doubt, whip it out."
Posted by Matthew at January 14, 2004 10:48 AM