When I courted the young lady who became my seventh wife (or was it the eighth?), I whispered, sweetly, de omnino nihilo in her ear. Latin has some sort of odd effect on the opposite sex, somewhat like Morticia's use of French arousing Gomez on the old Addams Family TV show. Somewhat. Try it on your SO:

  • in hoc signo vinces
  • esse quam videri
  • dulce decorum est pro patria mori
  • ars longa vita brevis

    And my personal fave, sed qui fecit, refecit.

  • Latin as it is taught today takes two main variants:

    Where the Ecclesiastical form is flowing and soft, the Vulgar form is gutteral and harsh. Comparing the two is like comparing Italian and German, and I'm sure linguistics texts have focused on this extensively. However, da mihi bassia ("give me kisses") sounds equally sweet whether spoken by courtesan or slave, and in the end, that's all that matters.

    Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.