The Mad Latinist

This is AMERICA: Speak ENGLISH!

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:53:42 GMT

I think I've posted about this kind of thing before. Such signs seem pointless: if someone orders in the wrong language, either your staff understands or they don't. If they don't understand they don't understand, nothing to be done about that really. If they do understand, why should they pretend they don't just to prove a point? Worse, why should that be company policy?

I'm guessing the real issue is that such businesses probably employ a lot of Hispanic workers, who might actually be inclined to understand orders given in Spanish. Then all hell breaks loose, I guess.

But really, when I see such stories, my reaction is to want to invest in a sign that says "SPEAK any language but ENGLISH!"

A thought experiment

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:33:34 GMT

This idea is entirely grishnash's, but since he doesn't blog anymore he gave me permission to post it.

Purim just ended in my time zone (and walledness). This year Purim corresponded with Maundy Thursday (which commemorates the Last Supper and the giving of communion) and Good Friday (which commemorates the crucifixion).

Jesus died during Passover of course, and Easter is modeled on that Jewish holiday (in fact many languages don't even distinguish the two). So the Church went to great lengths to create a system whereby Easter (most of whose observers follow the Gregorian or Julian calendar) occurs at, or near the same time as Passover (whose date is determined based on the Jewish calendar). This system is very complicated, and has its share of bugs. This year Easter well before Passover, and lines up with Purim instead.

Given how much the timing of Jesus' death influenced Christianity, it's interesting to imagine how different things would have been if the "first Easter" had also fallen on Purim.

Discuss.

NOTE: Although I do allude to the Eastern Orthodox Church's use of the Julian calendar above, I did not think to point out that this means they don't have the same problem. Thanks to tungol for calling my attention to this omission.

More Gygaxiana

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:57:44 GMT

It's been ten days since Gary Gygax left the Prime Material Plane; the shiv‘ah, so to speak, is well over, and it's time to move on. But the week has produced many fascinating tributes, and I wanted a chance to blog them. So many of the tributes were about how Gygax subtly but overwhelmingly affected the author's life. It's true that when one thinks about it, Mr. Gygax's influences, while almost invisible, are just about ubiquitous. In last week's entry (q.v.) I wrote in response to Internal Monologue's comment about Gygax's constant use of latin abbreviations, e.g. "i.e., q.v.," etc.) "...it might even be fair to blame my obsession with Latin on Gygax's use of these abbreviations." Given how my "obsession with Latin" dominates my character (to say nothing of my life), I think this off-handed comment deserves some amplification.

When I first started upgrading to AD&D in fourth grade or so, the Latin abbreviations (starting, I think, with q.v., because the Fiend Folio and then the Monster Manual were my first books) really lept out at me. Even the glossary in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide didn't satisfy my curiosity: I knew there had to be more abbreviations I was missing, and I wanted to know them all, and what each stood for. So naturally I asked my dad. My father is a lawyer, and has a certain fondness for sesquipedalian verbiage (a clichéd phrase, yes, but how can I avoid it?), so he was the most qualified person in my world. He was certainly happy to help. He opened up his legal pad and started writing down "i.e., id est, that is" and so on. Then having filled about half a legal page, he tore it out and gave it to me. I hung this page on my bedroom door, and, as the years went by, slowly made additions until I had filled the page. Granted, I hadn't yet actually started learning Latin (that began in seventh grade), so there are some horrendous mistakes (e.g. I conflated quod vide with quo vadis, inexplicably coming up with the mysterious and nonsensical quod vote.) That yellow and yellowed legal page sits on my old bedroom door in my parents' house to this very day.

So it is indeed possible that without Gygax I would never have become a Mad Latinist. But I suppose that's something of an ambiguous complement ;)

Without further ado, here are some of the notable tributes. Roll 1d6 and consult the appropriate subtable.

1. Gaming Companies subtable (1d6÷2, round down)

Wizards Of The Coast's official tribute (a video in which employees of the company that now makes Dungeons & Dragons talk about what Gygax meant to them.)
WotC's list of tributes
Troll Lord's official tribute (that link is not permanent. Screencap available here, thanks to Professor Christopher Heard)

2. TV & Radio subtable (1d6÷2, round down)

Wait wait, don't tell me! (about half-way into the "Not My Job" segment. But what the baator is "plus eight charisma" supposed to mean?)
The Colbert Report
Talk of the Nation (two different segments. But ability checks should be made on 20-sided dice!)

3. Webcomics subtable (1d6)

The Order of the Stick Hard to beat this one.
Penny Arcade (with commentary)
Dork Tower
Weregeek
GU Comics
XKCD. I found this one especially moving for some reason, notwithstanding that the geek in me wants to complain that it perpetuates the myth that D&D is played competitively. I mean, it theoretically can be, but this is rarely done, and in any case would still require a DM.

4. My D&D friends (see special section below)

5. Miscellany (1d4÷2, round down. Or just flip a coin)

6. No Encounter.

Of course the most important group of tributes are those by my own circle of D&D friends. I already linked to Internal Monologue's initial post on the subject, but Zac continued posting on the topic all week. See especially here, here, and here.

Note also grishnash's comment to the first post:

In his honor, I will roll for random encounters for his journey to the Outer Planes according to the 1st Edition DMG rules. Rolling percentile dice for Psychic Wind: 34. He avoids being blown off course in the Astral Plane. Checking for random encounters in the Astral Plane: 14, 6, 20!

A random encounter just prior to arrival at his chosen plane.

Rolling percentile dice: 04

Gary Gygax encounters an aerial servant, which, as luck would have it, was sent by a friendly cleric tasked with retrieving him...

Of course knowledge of how to summon aerial servants—let alone retrieve the souls of the dead—is not exactly common in our world, so I believe this means Gary has been brought back to grishnash's campaign world. So if you're looking for Mr. Gygax, I would recommend you start somewhere in Illexia.

The most fitting tribute I've seen so far, though, has to be the work of my friend Pablo. Pablo, you see, has been running a campaign with Zac and some other mutual friends, since the late eighties (I was involved very briefly when it started). In honor of Gary Gygax, Paul wrote a special adventure, sending the PC's to "The Dungeon of the Erudite E.G.G." The whole dungeon is one continuous string of Gygax references. It's hilarious, of course, but it wouldn't be a Gygax dungeon if it weren't also horrendously and arbitrarily deadly. Since Paul hasn't published his work, I can't really share it with you, but he has generously given me permission include some of my favorite quotes:

The first time a player verbally recognizes that the party is in a Gygaxian dungeon, his PC is immediately attacked by a falling Green Slime.
First drink from fountain (by anyone) acts as Heal spell. Second drink boosts a random stat by 8 points for this adventure. Third drink permanently drains 2 points from prime attribute of drinker. Fourth drink… (who’s going to drink after that?!).
Encounters with her are very awkward, however, especially because she has no name or history, and if pressed for even these basic details, she grows frustrated, then confused, and then declares “Screw it! Fight to the death!”

It should come as no surprise, though, that what I'm most eager to mention is my own (all too predictable) tribute: [[la:Ernestus Geisericus Gygax]]. It has been pointed out that there might be better Latin names to equate with Gary, but I'm hoping the wikipedian community will allow me to keep Geisericus, just because it's so absurdly Dark-Age sounding. Those of you who can handle Latin, please check the article for anything that needs emendation or amendment. Heck, if you appreciate the subject matter but not the language, I will be happy to take your suggestions either here or on the disputatio page.

ADDENDVM: if you know Latin, you should also check beluosus' clever tribute.

And Einstein too!

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:41:49 GMT

Happy pi-day, tanagers!

(Yes, it's time for that joke once again)

Qualis artifex periit

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:59:06 GMT

Gary Gygax has died. May his soul find the appropriate outer plane of existence.

Internal Monologue puts it perfectly.

Like Zac, I missed a chance to fulfill a Gygax-related dream: I wanted to ask him if he'd considered a Latin name. On Wikipedia we normally Latinize the given name(s) of any modern person, but leave their surname(s) unchanged, unless we have evidence that they use or used a different form. But as I note here it's hard to Latinize Gary (my suggestion is Geisericus), and Gygax lends itself well to declension. Mr. Gygax seemed like the sort of person who might have considered a Latin name at some point in his life, so I really wanted to ask him at last Gen Con. But I didn't run into him, and thinking I'd get a chance this summer, I didn't try too hard to contact him. Now the world will probably never know.

ADDENDVM: I should especially have called attention to this paragraph from Zac's write-up:

I will also miss Gygax's idiosyncratic style. My verbal SAT score was at least 60 points higher because of Gygax's predilection for recondite vocabulary (milieu, denizen, enervate, and the whole gamut of Latin abbreviations: i.e., cf., e.g., qv., et al.).

This is utterly true. In fact, it might even be fair to blame my obsession with Latin on Gygax's use of these abbreviations.

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:49:32 GMT

What the... Mithridates VI of Pontus is abdicating?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:16:49 GMT

Hey, as usual when I finally get to my journal I'm too tired and in a hurry to give a full account, but...

Please direct your browsers to this link. Note especially, but not exclusively, the entry titled "The Medinet-Hubbu Cippus."

Wait... pleading!? That's not what happened!

I've submitted (with their permission) a corrected version due to some minor typos, but they haven't put it up yet. Still, if you spot any mistakes, it's fair game to mention them here.

And bonus points if you can explain the pun in the title.

Human Nature

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:56:22 GMT

Dr. Who episode "Human Nature." In the Doctor's diary we see the phrase "Maius Intra Qua Extra!"

(As you can probably guess from the fact that this is TV Latin, it's not quite right. But still funny.)

Wn-pw — pw-tr jr=f sw??

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:11:40 GMT

I have no idea what this is, but the hieroglyphic text says:

Wn-pw sx^c.t nds.t
"Once upon a time there was a little rabbit..."

These happen to be the opening words of Peter Rabbit. Of course, there are four little rabbits, but they cut off the Egyptian text before the numeral, so I guess you only take one small rabbit or something.

I still don't get it.

November 6

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:30:49 GMT

Hmm, I do prefer to be subtle about this, but perhaps this year I'm being too subtle :P

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:50:06 GMT

Guess what time it is!

Cat omens

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:07:50 GMT

If a black cat is seen in a man's house....

(Via Jim Davila of PaleoJudaica, who comments: "My take: if any kind of cat is in your house, you'll experience good fortune."

Dies Latinus: Institutum Orientale

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 06:42:45 GMT

Heri diu indicem vocabulorum in antecessu parabam pro die Latino iam constituto, apud INSTITVTVM·ORIENTALE, terrenam meam. Sed nemo nisi Petrus et Alexandra (cum parvulis) venerunt, et Petrus tantum post prandium mansit. Ergo vocabulorum fascicula fere frustra impressi. Solum igitur Petrum per museum ducebam. Sed identidem custos me castigabat--Eam me dicere nimis elate (nisi professor essem) loqui, praesertim me puditum est. Sed his dictis, dies plerumque iucundus erat.

Postea, rursus ad autocineta ambulavimus. Sed intrans animadverti me receptorium GPS non habere! Timens, ad Institutum Orientale reveni. Rogavi ianitorem num GPS ibi reliquissem. Reliqueram quidem! Dein ianitor me allocutus est: "Latine," in quit, "cum amico tuo loquebaris?" Aio, et de grege nostro rogitavit. Mihi inscriptionem electronicam didit, ut possim eum ad Circulum Latinum Sicagoensem invitem.

Dein exiturus Fracisco obviam ivi, et sat diu de lingua Demotica locuti sumus.

In other news, is anyone else disappointed that the media coverage (e.g. here) of Bill Maher ejecting that heckler tends to leave out his insightful comment on the etymology of "audience"? ;)

Another one for my "Ancient Themes" playlist

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:50:21 GMT

They Might Be Giants — The Mesopotamians

Latin Wikipedia update

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:56:36 GMT

Manchester Guardian "In praise of ... Latin.":

Such advantages might (just about) justify eccentric efforts to make Latin - long extolled as offering a window on the past - a living tongue for the future. Through Vicipaedia, an offshoot of the web's superb free encylopaedia that was launched last month, the ancient language is being used to read and write about not just Julius Caesar but also Britney Spears. Even if lingua-franca status is unlikely to be regained, the venture deserves success if it gets people reading the classics again.

Obligatory journalistic erratum: Vicipaedia was founded in 2002, not "last month." (Who was it who was just telling me that the most common error in news reports was the assumption that "If I haven't heard about it it must be new"?) I dare say this error is more glaring than the misunderstanding about computatrum.

Within the blogosphere, the original WSJ story has been picked up by Internal Monologue, and Paleojudaica. The former is the blog of one of my long-time friends, so is not surprising. The latter is one of my favorite blogs, but I have very little contact with the blogger at all: his mention of the story was a complete coincidence.

If you know of any other journals (by which I mean both newspapers and blogs) that have brought up the Vicipaedia Latina story, please do let me know.

Latin Wikipedia is famous!

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:37:57 GMT

We've had an article in Vox Latina before, but never something as prestigious as this!

Due, I think, to my thoroughly arcane and scholarly interests, I didn't impress Mr. Gomes as much as some of the others did (don't get me wrong though: Josh does makes a fantastic "poster boy." Now I need his autograph!) but I'm glad he did find something he considered worth quoting from our interview. Unfortunately we had a slight misunderstanding of the sort that is almost obligatory in newspaper articles. So I should clarify.

Computatrum. When I lobbied against it was actually back in the mid-nineties, before wikipedia existed. On the Grex Latine Loquentium computatrum and other -trum words were (and are) very widespread, and it really bothered me. But I couldn't convince very many people on this topic. And as proper usage is determined more by what people actually say than by what they should say (OK, that's not exactly true in a dead language, but it makes sense in cases like these), I eventually gave in to the masses on this one word. Computatrum is just too wide-spread now to fight, and if you can't beat 'em.... But I do still fight the use of this suffix on most other words. So Gomes presented this whole sequence, over 10-years long, as something that happened on Wikipedia, when really it was decided long before.

But in general the article is good, and I'm very pleased!

ADDENDVM: Uh oh, he also confused Tangaloa and Tagalog. Iacobus Amor won't like that.

Inappropriate behavior

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:19:06 GMT

I can think of some people who would enjoy this.

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:11:49 GMT

Well, my all-nighter(s) payed off! I genuinely expected to wait a few days before being asked to write a final draft, but the professor wrote me today and said not to bother. He loved the paper and is giving me an A.

No matter how difficult writing is for me, it feels so good to know that I'm finally becoming good at it. This is the second paper in a row that was such difficult labor, but which got terrific results.

I'm now officially caught up! (Well, except for that one final exam I have to find to prove to the professor that I did in fact do it and turn it in. Bad miscommunication there.) Now to start studying for those history exams.

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:32:27 GMT

Wow. Pulled an all-nighter. Finally got through that section that had been holding me back for the last couple weeks, and within a few hours I had the paper done.

Now I need to take a nap. Hopefully long enough to be rested, but short enough to get some food before sundown.

And as usual, I may check my email during Yom Kippur, but I won't be writing any. I'm not ignoring you, I promise.

Gen Con Adventure

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:28:27 GMT

My friend Zac, who is one of the people with whom I go to Gen Con every year, is teaching himself Flash. Here's his latest experiment: Gen Con Adventure!

Ye know what day it be

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:57:03 GMT

A rare political statement

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:45:47 GMT

I'm tired of the attitude that honoring or mourning 9-11 is something that belongs to the right wing. Yes, the Bush administration has coöpted our remembrance, but we on the left play right into their hands when we denigrate it as a jingoistic right-wing fantasy. 9-11-2001 was not "no big deal," and we should not pretend that it was because of politics.

Neither should we buy into Bush's claims of the form "9-11 means I should do X." There were some things where 9-11 really meant Bush should do X, but in every single case, he totally fucked up. He fucked up "Bin Laden dead or alive." He fucked up "This time we won't abandon Afghanistan." He fucked up "winning the hearts and minds." And this is all the more reason to mourn 9-11. All these unfinished goals are an ugly gaping Ground Zero, a constant reminder of his, and therefore our failure.

There was a time when everyone in America felt we knew what must be done. Nowadays the left looks on that as a frightening loss of self-control, a reflexive lapse into mindless jingoism. I don't. It was no more mindless than the good will of the world we all-too-briefly had. I think the unity was a beautiful thing, but that our commander in chief was not worthy of it.

Patriotism does not belong to the right, and neither should remembrance of 9-11.

UPDATE: A number of people commented that I said a lot about what I disagreed without saying what I actually think myself. I grant that I wasn't terribly specific, but it strikes me that this is just a further symptom of the problem I described: people can no longer wrap their minds around the idea of defending the country without being an obsessive, arrogant, incompetent war-monger. It doesn't seem like something I should have to explain.

Nazis vs. Clowns

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:25:28 GMT

They say that the best way to deal with people who use their right to free speech for evil, is not to take away their freedom of speech, but to counter it with more free speech. But I don't think I've ever seen that pulled off so well as this.

Via Internal Monologue.

Yes, I still like it. Sue me.

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 06:58:03 GMT

♪ A decade of nifty darn comics ♪

Voice Post

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:12:05 GMT