De Latina

[whuppitystoorie]

Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere - quare; Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te.

(I love you not, Sabidius, the reason for which I cannot tell; this only can I say, I love you not.)

I was translating this epigram by Martial in Latin today, and I suddenly realized that it reminded me of an old nursery rhyme - "I do not love thee, Doctor Fell".

Comments

[jellyfishfire]

Acceptae portae magnae leti, mea amicae! I'm glad you're enjoying the ole dead language! (by the by, dreadfully sorry if I mangled the above, it's been awhile

[whuppitystoorie]

Oranges and Lemons! That's definitely one of my favourites! I've heard it with "here comes a candle to light you to bed" instead of "copper". (I read a Dickens novel not too long ago about the debtors prisons...which is I think what this poem's talking about.)
Kids played a game with this where two people "chop" at people's heads while they recite the poem, and then they go, "Chip-chop, chip-chop, the last - one's - DEAD!"
That apparently stems from a pagan tradition where they actually do cut off the unlucky loser's head.

You should watch the original "Wicker Man". It's chockablock with oddball pagan traditions.

How about this one:
"A tisket, a tasket,
A green-and-yellow basket
A severed head cannot reply
To questions that you ask it."
That one came out of the French Revolution, I think.

And yes, this Old Bailey Document you speak of is HELLA SPOOKY.

[whuppitystoorie]

And I have no idea what your Latin phrase was. A large door was mentioned?

[jellyfishfire]

Ha, yeah, it was a probably incredibly incorrect phrase saying "welcome to the large gates of hell, my friend!" Or rather 'death', instead of 'hell', because for some reason unknownst tah me, "hell" does not appear in any dictionary I could flip through/download....So therefore it doesn't exist! NYAH!!!

And also, I second your tisket-tasket rhyme (hee, a very funny one, it was singing it over and over last night, until I considered it might have one of those "Bloody Mary" type curses on it, so I stopped....) wiiiith THIS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9uu5BHWIxA

English major butterflies

[rivkaz]

I can see myself becoming the man you speak of, slowly in reverse metamorphosis. XD

Re: English major butterflies

[rivkaz]

>D I WILL FIGHT ANYONE THAT STOPS ME FROM MOVING TO CANADA RIGHT NOW AND TAKING YOUR GODDAMN LATIN CLASS. OH THAT'S IT. I'M GOIN'. OH WHAT NOW?

XD ....will they let me across the border if I'm frothing and wearing a Scarecrow tshirt d'ythink?

Re: English major butterflies

[whuppitystoorie]

When you complete your transformation, call me up, and I will marry you without delay - at the very least to keep you from dying of starvation.

He is like a living, breathing Jonathan Crane, minus the cranky bastard aspect. Do you hear me, woman? JONATHAN CRANE IS MY LATIN PROFESSOR.