Archæology

The assorted finds of Artefact Publishing

Latin usage

Two Latin phrases which are consistently misspelled and mispronounced: ad nauseam and in medias res. I can understand the first, since people who don’t know Latin probably assume everything ends in -um or -us, but the second makes less sense.

Posted by jamie on December 30, 2005 09:01+13:00

Comments

Hello Jamie, Happy New Year. People learn and use Latin less and less in my vaaaaaaast experience. When I was at school, back in the Middle Ages, everybody "intelligent" (yes, I know) learned it. I think people *hear* "in medias res" as "in media res" - I often see it written like that. I've never heard anyone say "ad nauseum" though. I think I'd be sort of impressed if I did - I'd think they were trying to be articulate and use Latin. Well, something like that. BTW, many talented writers in current course I'm doing can't spell 2 gud, wood u beleeve! But, wot can U do? I don't want to turn into 'grammar police', my pet name in 1995 in similar course. Doesn't feel 2 gud.

Posted by: Jane on January 6, 2006 18:37+13:00