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Aug 24th, 2023
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Needs to Get Out More!
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Needs to Get Out More!
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Nil carborundum illegitimus. I always thought it was "illegitimi" I don't suppose it really matters as it was only mock latin in the first place. "Illegitimi non carborundum" was the original gag. It was the motto of Vinegar Joe Stilwell, US General in charge of the China/Burma theatre in WWII. He was certainly one of the toughest and most difficult of the Allied Generals.
Giles. Mogless in Paris.
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"Illegitimi non carborundum" was the original gag.
It was the motto of Vinegar Joe Stilwell, US General in charge of the China/Burma theatre in WWII. He was certainly one of the toughest and most difficult of the Allied Generals. I have my father's Burma Star amongst his various medals. He was in Burma when the war ended. He was with the engineers surveying the route of the Burma Road. It is very likely that I crossed his "tracks" when I rode the Burma road on a motorbike tour that took us almost to the border of China and Burma before turning north.   
Last edited by Gambalunga; 18/01/17 05:07 PM.
Peter ![[Linked Image]](http://bradley.it/public_images/drive.jpg)
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Joined: May 2010
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L - Learner Plates On
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L - Learner Plates On
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and don't forget John Cleese in "Life of Brian"..............Romanis eunt Domum......write it out 100 times.........
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Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 391 Likes: 5
Learner Plates Off!
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Learner Plates Off!
Joined: Dec 2015
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The best, possibly only, use of my latin lessons was the time I sorted out a computer problem for a snooty 2 1/2 schoolie (LtCdr Instructor Officer) who was assigned to us. "That's all very well for you technical types, but I can appreciate the joys of Catullus", said he. "Really? I couldn't be much botherd with a bloke who wanted to be his girlfriend's pet sparrow." Exit keeping a straight face.
A little knowledge can be just enough.
"this means the end of the horse-drawn Zeppelin!" - N Seagoon
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Crikey chaps, You lot went to posh schools!! My lot had trouble learning English whereas my son not only learnt Latin but ancient Greek as well. I gave our milkman some very stern looks!!!! 
Here for a good time not a long time!!
Reg
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Amo, Amas, Amat has stuck. That's about it.
Oh and the verb at the end appears. amamus , amatis, amant Did Latin O level at the ripe old age of 13 - my Grammar school was focussed on Oxbridge and at that time it required Latin even for science students. But because Latin is logical I found it far easier than French. Remember a school skiing trip to Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Italian alps. I fancied my chances with a shop girl in the town but she couldnt manage English or French and I couldnt do Italian. So I tried propositioning her in Latin. After all it couldn't be much different to Italian could it? All I got was hysterical laughter and I still dont know if it was the language of Caesar with a broad yorkshire accent that got her going or that the best I could do was an invite to come along to my encampment. The last Latin book I had studied was Caesar's Gallic wars Either way it didnt work.
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Needs to Get Out More!
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Needs to Get Out More!
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Amo, Amas, Amat has stuck. That's about it.
Oh and the verb at the end appears. amamus , amatis, amant Did Latin O level at the ripe old age of 13 - my Grammar school was focussed on Oxbridge and at that time it required Latin even for science students. But because Latin is logical I found it far easier than French. Remember a school skiing trip to Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Italian alps. I fancied my chances with a shop girl in the town but she couldnt manage English or French and I couldnt do Italian. So I tried propositioning her in Latin. After all it couldn't be much different to Italian could it? All I got was hysterical laughter and I still dont know if it was the language of Caesar with a broad yorkshire accent that got her going or that the best I could do was an invite to come along to my encampment. The last Latin book I had studied was Caesar's Gallic wars Either way it didnt work. Was it in Capt. Corelli's mandolin ? The bit where a british SOE officer was parachuted onto the top of a mountainous greek island. Because he was over 6ft tall, blonde and spoke classical greek, the locals thought he was an angel.
Giles. Mogless in Paris.
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Joined: Mar 2015
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Has a lot to Say!
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Has a lot to Say!
Joined: Mar 2015
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Giles yes there is this scene in Cpt Corelli's Mandolin and I rememb wondering back when I read it, and still do, if de Berniéres based the character on Patrick Leigh Fermour? Patrick was not ginger haired but surely spoke classical Greek and parachuted on to a mountainous Greek island. And was not backward in coming forward with the ladies...
1968 4/4 1600
1950 Auster J5B
Kitfox S5 Outback
Jodel D9
1988 Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9
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Needs to Get Out More!
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Needs to Get Out More!
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Yes indeed. I suspect it may well be based on him. He was parachuted into Crete by SOE. Still, classical greek would have been some use to him, unlike the fellow who had read the Classics and Archaic Egyptian at university. When interviewed for the intelligence corps, he said he'd been studying Greek, Latin and the language of the Pharaohs. He spent the rest of the war in the Faroe Islands.
Paddy Fermor was certainly quite a character. Ill met by moonlight, a book I mentioned in the "What are we all reading thread" is an account of the kidnapping of General Kneipe on Crete by Paddy Fermor and Billy Moss.
Giles. Mogless in Paris.
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I would have been delighted if that Italian girl had seen me as the Greek god that I was in those days ( ha, ha!) but sadly she didnt
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