Thanks Philip. I vaguely knew this, but was alluding to the fact that it's usually a particular female piper who comes in for the most vicious and unwarranted attacks (she can play as good a staccato as anyone when she chooses, but has committed the unforgivable sin of being too successful) - and now poor Alice. I put "feminam" because I couldn't remember the accusative of "mulier" ;-) c
> most >people these >days neither know nor care...;-) >(actually, I suppose, *most* people never did) Sad but true, though getting your endings wrong in a highly inflected language like Latin, Finnish or the Slav and Baltic groups can mangle your message rather more seriously than getting them wrong in, say, German. >Grumpy Old Man, Educational Standards Going to the Dogs etc. etc. Idem C >-----Original Message----- >From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu >[mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Philip Gruar >Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 12:12 PM >To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu >Subject: [NSP] Re: Whatever! > >----- Original Message ----- >From: <christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu> >Adrian indulges in ad hominem (and especially ad feminam) >attacks himself >often enough. >> >> C > >Can't resist a bit of pedantry - and reversion to my long-ago >alter-ego as a >Latin teacher! > >'ad hominem' can apply to women too, since strictly speaking >'homo' means >member of mankind -'man' as opposed to beast or god, not male >person as >opposed to female. 'Man' as opposed to Woman is 'Vir', so it >would have to >be 'ad virum' if you wanted to be precise about the victim's sex. >Having said that, Roman society was so male-dominated that 'homo' in >practice usually means a male, unless woman is specified. > >Anyway Chris, well done for getting the ending right - most >people these >days neither know nor care...;-) >(actually, I suppose, *most* people never did) > >Grumpy Old Man, Educational Standards Going to the Dogs etc. etc. >Philip > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
