Re: Reactions to the secret vice (was: Steg's wonderful sig.)

On Tue, 9 Nov 1999, Sally Caves wrote:

> Heh heh heh... there is that dimension to it!  I prefer arguing over
> Old English phrases that yield richer fruit... like whether or not
> "swifeth" in _swifeth me geond sweartne_ could possibly have meant
> "fuck" to some Old English monk.  Riddle 12, Codex Exoniensis.  :D
*digs J. R. Clark Hall out of mess of a desk*  "Sweep me through
darkness"?  Hmm.  That's one thing I didn't like about OE -- no sex,
anywhere but the riddles.  Very boring.  There's only so much pleasure in
"thaes ofereode, thisses swa maeg" and "EAdmund se Eadiga Eastengla cyning
waes snotor and wurthful and wurthode symble mid aethelum theawum thone
aelmihtigan God."  A young man needs a little spice in his literature.

> Yeah, I know, I was pulling a werewolf on you.  To master Latin takes an
> adult lifetime, and I've given most of that to other dead languages,
> alas.
> So I find it hard and hateful when it's not working and beautiful when
> it
> is.  I say, you're a singular one!  Latin, and conlanging, and
> postmodern
> literature????  If only all our own modernists had such an interest in
> languages.
You'd be surprised how often a little knowledge of Latin comes in handy in
modern literature (or maybe not).  I'm considering building a whole paper
out of a Latin phrase in _The Professor's House._

> Well, I'd choose you for our Freshman English Board.  Especially if you
> get all those tattoos.
Just one: a sunburst on my left upper arm with the word "INVICTVS" under
it.