My Latin 101

Dear insansapinas,
(this is a favorite blog entry of mine in my other blog).

I thought carpe diem means carp per dime. Hohoho.
*sips coffee and reach for a cookie*.

Latin is not the language of the Latinos. It is Spanish, dum dum and Latin is the language spoken by my favorite maternal cousin who is half-Chinese.
*reach for a second cookie*.

He was a lot older than I am and he was the mischievous…street-smart …and fun cousin I can remember.

Actually, he’s a cousin-twice removed. When I was a pre-schooler, his mother, my aunt who was a former nun used to say AVE MARIA ...(insert some expletives) …not to pray but that was her “surprise-can’t-believe-look-out-I –am-after-your-ass kind of exclamation to my naughty cousin. My cousin to whom it is addressed to simply answered…Ora Pro Nobis and then would wink at me while my aunt continued her yada-yada-yada running after him with her slippers. Wow, I was so proud of my cousin at that time. He said it was Latin....
*reach for a third cookie, sips coffee*.


He could respond to the priest in Latin, ET CUM SPIRITU TOU for the priest’s DOMINUS VOVISCUM during high mass. Well of course, I do not know that it was a prayer during high mass at that time. Then he would recite to me SALUTARIS HOSTIA, QUE CAELIS PANDIS OSTIUM…which later on I learned was a song sung during Benediction.
*reach for a fourth cookie, sips coffee*

He would sing ADESTE FIDELIS…which was a Latin version of Christmas song...O come ALL YE FAITHFUL.

I had not seen him for a long time. I was in grade school when he got married. My aunt said that the woman is “blind” to have married him. Hehehe .
*reach for a fifth cookie, sips coffee*.

I remember him while reading this book with Latin words that we read or use everyday.

CURRICULUM VITAE-another term for resume which means a course of your life. This is where you write your achievements, your educational background, and your work experience. Some include their medals for Most Behaved in Grade School because they rarely talked; their best in Math in Grade 1 because they can add 5+5 without the aid of their fingers and toes…and other chest thumping and ego-inflating awards. Sa totoo lang, the employers do not give a damn because in a high tech world of resume reading, a the software is used to pick CVs with the right keywords select people with relevant experience and skills for the job being advertised from thousands received.

ALIAS- No honey, this is not the spy thriller TV Series. This means at another time but then it mutated to AKA Also known as…say for example my alias which is The Ca t.

*reach for a sixth cookie, sips coffee*

ET AL- this means And the other people. When I was younger, I thought it was an abbreviation of a name. hehehe. Indeed it is an abbreviation of the Latin word Et Alii.

ETC – very common which means and other things and the abbreviation of ETCETERA. Remember the classic movie The King and I feautring Yul Bryner as the King of Siam who ended his English with etcetera etcetera?

*reach for a seventh cookie, sips coffee*. No more cookie, cup is empty. Where did the cookie and coffee go? Will be back.