> On Tue, 18 Jun 1996, David Flory wrote:
> Those silly old Latin jokes are
> > terribly hard to decipher. What they are, actually, is a testimony to
> > the fondness in the English-speaking world for the Latin language, through
> > which uncountable millions of school children have had to suffer. The
> > language has never lost its vogue in this country or in England, and the
> > whole study (with its attendant frustrations!) is something that actually
> > sparks a kind of good-natured humor of the kind seen in these old
> > jokes. They are really quite culture-specific.
and then John Arnold wrote:
> and also class-specific - when i started my PhD it was simply "assumed"
> by various people that i would already "have" latin, since i was a
> nice, polite "chap". Actually, i'd never had the opportunity to study
> it before; and although i read latin now [for the very specific work i
> do] the jokes sailed right past me as well ...
and now it's my turn:
ibid.
Altho' I'm not so sure if it's class specific (but then again, we
Yanks will probably never understand the British obsession with
class, but I digress...): I reckon that people simply assume that
anyone mad enough to begin a PhD in something mediaeval had Latin
pounded into his skull from birth. My own is (at best) idiosyncratic,
having done a little Latin as part of my MPhil, and is just about
good enough to read what I have to. And, no, I didn't get the joke
either. (What can it be that roareth thus?)
The disturbing thing (to me at least, but I hope to others as well) is
that it sounds as if one of our merry band has "flamed" the person
who innocently posted a cry for help on behalf of another. I hope this
is not the case......
One of the most enjoyable things about this list is that it doesn't
take itself too seriously and that the listmembers are drawn from a
wide group of people -- mediaevalists, clerics, and people who are
simply interested in the subject -- even one of my own students.
Nuff said -- I'll stop preaching now.
~jon
J. M. B. PORTER
Department of History : University of Nottingham
University Park : Nottingham : NG7 2RD : England
t: + 115 951 3639 f: + 115 951 5948
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