Me in Place

While kids are learning to speak, there are interesting twists on common words… here are a few of our family favorites which are now used in our everyday conversation:

1. Bobbin: n. term referring to my 2yo’s bottom. As in: “My bobbin is dirty.”

2. Beehive: n. another term referring to a bottom. We used the word “behind” when speaking to my 7yo when she was little. She morphed it into “beehive.” As in: “Mommy, my beehive hurts.”

3. Hippothomas: n. alternate to Hippopotamus, used by 2yo. As in: ” I am coloring this hippothomas!”

4. Three Months of Tears: n. alternate to “Three Musketeers.” Recent development in our vocabulary as our 4yo heard me talking about the candy bar. As in: “Ooh, I want a Three Months of Tears!”

5. Driveyounuts, driveyounuts, driveyounuts: I’m going to call this one an adjective and a verb. When my 7yo was little, she adopted this phrase, repeating it over and over until she actually did, indeed, drive us nuts.

Latin phrases with their definitions and the date and context in which I used them.

• ad infinitum —  “to infinity”  — Going on forever.
• ad nauseam — “to the point of disgust” — Literally, “to the point of nausea”. Sometimes used as a humorous alternative to ad infinitum. An argumentum ad nauseam is a logical fallacy involving basing one’s argument on prolonged repetition, i.e., repeating something so much that people are “sick of it”.
• cave canem — “beware of dog” — Found written on a floor mosaic depicting a dog, at the entrance of a Roman house excavated at Pompeii.
• caveat lector — “let the reader beware” — Used when the writer does not vouch for the accuracy of a text. Probably a recent alteration of caveat emptor.
• celerius quam asparagi co ur — “more swiftly than asparagus is cooked” — Or simply “faster than cooking asparagus”.
• Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. —  ”Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his fault.”
• cygnus inter anates —  ”swan among ducks”
• de minimis non curat praetor —  ”The commander does not bother with the smallest things.” — Also “The chief magistrate does not concern himself with trifles.” Trivial matters are no concern of a high official.
• discipuli nostrum bardissimi sunt —  ”Our students are stupid”
• Duae tabulae rasae in quibus nihil scriptum est —  ”Two minds, not one single thought” — Stan Laurel, inscription for the fanclub logo Sons of the Desert.
• experto crede —  ”trust the expert” i.e. me — Literally “believe one who has had experience”. An author’s aside to the reader.
• haec olim meminisse iuvabit — “one day, this will be pleasing to remember” — Commonly rendered in English as “One day, we’ll look back on this and smile”. From Virgil’s Aeneid 1.203.
• hora somni (h.s.) — “at the hour of sleep” — Medical shorthand for “at bedtime”.
• In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro —  ”Everywhere I have searched for peace and nowhere found it, except in a corner with a book” — Quote by Thomas a Kempis.
• infra dignitatem (infra dig) —  ”beneath one’s dignity”
• me vexat pede —  ”it annoys me at the foot” — Less literally, “my foot itches”. Refers to a trivial situation or person that is being a bother, possibly in the sense of wishing to kick that thing away.
• Melita, domi adsum — “Honey, I’m home!” — A relatively common recent Latinization from the joke phrasebook Latin for All Occasions. Grammatically correct, but the phrase would be anachronistic in ancient Rome.
• orbis non sufficit —  ”the world does not suffice”, “the world is not enough” — James Bond’s adopted family motto in the novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It made a brief appearance in the film adaptation of the same name and was later used as the title of the nineteenth James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough.
• pons asinorum — “bridge of asses” — Any obstacle that stupid people find hard to cross. Originally used of Euclid’s Fifth Proposition in geometry.
• quod licet Iovi non licet bovi —  ”what is permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to an ox” — If an important person does something, it does not necessarily mean that everyone can do it (cf. double standard).
• si vales valeo (SVV) —  ”if you are well, I am well” —  A common beginning for ancient Roman letters. Also extended to si vales bene est ego valeo (”if you are well, that is good; I am well”), abbreviated to SVBEEV.
• sic vita est — “thus is life” Or “such is life”. — Indicates that a circumstance, whether good or bad, is an inherent aspect of living.
• ubi mel ibi apes — “where [there is] honey, there [are] bees”
• Usus magister est optimus — practice makes perfect