Fun

Anno Aetheris Scriptori XLVIII

jus soliWhat we see in today’s title the result of a lack of education. Latin nouns have more declensions than Chicago Aldermen have ways for a dead man to vote. I am at sea.

Incidentally, the gentleman who runs Scriptorium suggested a title replacement of in aethere scribo, which has its merits, before arriving at blogere, which is readily grasped though it lacks music.

Anyway, amidst the general gaiety of this happy day, and because I am on the road, there shall be no post, except to recall the words of Pascal:

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them, and to be unwilling to recognise them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion. We do not like others to deceive us; we do not think it fair that they should be held in higher esteem by us than they deserve; it is not then fair that we should deceive them, and should wish them to esteem us more highly than we deserve.

Thus, when they discover only the imperfections and vices which we really have, it is plain they do us no wrong, since it is not they who cause them; they rather do us good, since they help us to free ourselves from an evil, namely, the ignorance of these imperfections. We ought not to be angry at their knowing our faults and despising us; it is but right that they should know us for what we are, and should despise us, if we are contemptible.

Therefore dear readers, besides the many common sins of man of which I am most guilty, and which are none of your business, I confess to you that I have used p-values publicly and in private, acts which fill me with a burning shame. I beg your forgiveness. It won’t happen again.

There: I feel better.

Ta for now because, like Rumpole warned, my blood alcohol content has sunk to a dangerous low. The series on the Summa Philosophica resumes tomorrow. I hope.

Categories: Fun, Statistics

5 replies »

  1. I find using the dative with an assumed esse to be affected when used for something transitory. Unless you are planning on dying this year “scriptor … est” is probably better usage.

    While the alteration is pleasing to the ear, usually this sort of stylistic linkage signals a constructive link between the nouns. I assume you mean the genitive of possession applied to scriptori ( web writer) and not the genitive of composition applied to anno (year made of ether). For clarity the genitive should be placed after the word it modifies but some are placed before and this can be changed for stylistic reasons.

    Nothing wrong with the title, given the nature of Latin grammar, but I’d write it differently.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *