It is only in this context of history that one can understand the rise—uniquely American—of the “superhero,” especially those that came out of the company that would eventually be known as D.C., Detective Comics. While the art of D.C. might not be the equivalent high art of Eliot or Cather or Davis, it is art nonetheless, taking from the past and searching for a goodness and truth in a generation that desperately fought to be for something rather than just against. Between 1938 and 1940, D.C. (for sake of argument, this is short hand, even when the company was called National or something else), creators brought into existence Superman, the alien immigrant raised in innocence and honesty by a Kansas couple who understood the Christ-like powers of their adopted son; Batman, the American aristocrat, detective, and crime fighter, who patrolled the darkest corners of urban America, protecting the innocent from harm; and Wonder Woman, the angelic, Greek classical goddess, who comes to the aid of American servicemen waging just and proper war against the ideologues. This trinity of heroes stood powerfully in 1940, but it remains equally powerful almost a century later. The heroes—immigrant; dark avenger; and demigoddess—speak to us of the twenty-first century every bit, if not more, as much as they did to the generation of the Great Depression and the Second World War.
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/03/batman-rise-american-superhero-bradley-birzer.html

How many bilingual signs does one need? I am not in favor of OFFICIAL bilingualism but a private business can advertise anyway they like. But it is more evidence of the fact that Spanish is not going away. S.O.C.K. S. Eso sí que es.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/california/Taco-Restaurant-Rant-Daily-Special-Anaheim-507720971.html?fbclid=IwAR3siA4YEg_P4erjh1UCXKjf19WM9hij_onMTR9qVS9j-E4IL_c0ECQLTRk

Why Study Latin? To Learn Greek!

My Auld Pop (Thomas Munro, Sr 1886-1963) often spoke of integrity and used to say “Is fhearr an rath fada glan seo far am beil e na an rathad goirid salach” or “Tis far better the the long clean road (rath fada glan) than the short dirty one.” I remember Dorothy L. Sayers wrote in a letter to Muriel St, Clare Byrne :

“To make a deliberate falsification for personal gain is the last, worst depth to which either scholar or artist can descend in work or life.” (From the Letters of Dorothy L Sayers Vol 1 1899-1936.

I have been a proctor to hundreds of AP exams and other standardized exams. It never would have occurred to me for an instant to seek a bribe to falsify an exam. I studied very hard for my Spanish Achievement test and got a 730. My eldest child, many years later got a 760. Our middle child got a 770. Our youngest got a 800 (a perfect score). She also was an National AP Hispanic Scholar. She got a 5 on her AP Spanish literature and also her AP English prep. A friend asked what prep books she used to study. My daughter said, “I didn’t study. I just read the complete works of Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Dorthy L. Sayers plus the complete works of Garcia Lorca, Alarcon, Jose Camilo Cela, Cervantes, Tirso de Molina and Calderon de la Barca plus a few odd essays and stories.

I know my father played “rounders” in Scotland in the 1920’s besides football (soccer). My grandfather played shinty in the Highlands in the 1880’s and 1890’s and then went to sea. At that time football (soccer) was almost unknown in the Highlands so he never played football in his life. But he did play baseball in the USA and Canada. He mentioned a shinty ball is similar to a baseball and one threw up and hit the ball as one does playing pepper.

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/03/how-jane-austen-played-baseball

“Speaking Latin properly is indeed to be held in the highest regard – not just because of its own merits, but in fact because it has been neglected by the masses. For it is not so much noble to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.” 
― Cicero

Of course, old Latin itself, like some old grandfather or grandmother, sent away to retirement, is little heard or discussed today. I live in a county of almost 1 million people and there is not a single Latin teacher anywhere for over 100 miles in every direction.

And yet, I am surrounded by a sea of Spanish speakers and as every Spanish teacher knows Spanish is a Romance language derived from Latin. People sometimes forget that Spanish is a European language because European speakers are outnumbered by non-Europeans (of many races) by a factor of almost three to one. Since the Renaissance Spanish has borrowed extensively from French, Italian, Latin and Greek -“cultismos” (cultured or learned words) as well as borrowing some vocabulary from indigenous languages of the Caribbean, Mexico and Peru.

English word	Spanish word	Spanish cultismo	English cognate
iron	hierro	férrico	Ferric oxide
son	hijo	Filial	Filial
Fate (destiny)	Hado	fatal	fatal
Hunger   (famine)	Hambre, hambruna	famélico	famine
Distaste (aversion)	Hastío	Fastidioso, exigente	Fastidious (partially false cognate); exigent
To stink	heder	Fétido (púdrido)	Fetid (putrid)
To flee	huir	fugaz	Fugacious

I could make a much longer list of cognates that Spanish and English have in common although there is an occasional linguistic difficulty as Spanish and English share roots that are false cognates such as the word “success” (a Latinate word) and “suceso” (event) as well as  éxito (success not “exit”). In the last two centuries Spanish has borrowed many words from English (chiefly American English and not British English).

Nonetheless, it should be obvious that an educated Spanish speaker has a command of Latin roots and Latin words that could help him or her read and write academic English well. Latin lives through its Romance progeny. There is no reason a person cannot develop two or more languages well and be authentically bilingual. We raised all our children to speak Spanish as well as English and of course being totally fluent in English and Spanish means one can begin to learn Italian or German as well since one already has a base vocabulary for the other languages. One of the things that irritates me is when administrators call English learners (of any level) “bilingual” when in fact many are monolingual or if they are partially bilingual they are illiterate in one language or the other. And of course my parents were never bilingual; they were polyglots.

So I tell my Spanish-speaking English learners (I am today chiefly a teacher of English to English learners) they are very lucky if they command that “treasure of harmonies” (tesoro de harmonías) which is Spanish. Of course, they would be luckier if they were able to read, write and speak English because it is a cognate fact that English is the lingua franca of today. But there is no reason why one cannot cultivate an apple tree (representing English) and a lemon tree (representing Spanish) in one’s home and garden.

English is the one language that is known and spoken almost universally among educated people. In fact, soon -if it has not happened already- English speakers who are non-native will outnumber native English speakers of the Anglophone world. But Spanish isn’t going away and will continue to be useful particularly in the Americas.

One could make the case that if you already read, write and speak English you don’t need to know any other modern language. But then one could give good reasons why one doesn’t need a formal education beyond high school in many jobs and careers.

It is possible in the near future most higher education will be done by home study or online. Traditionalists may find that colleges and universities will become so inimical to their values (if they haven’t become so already) that attending most colleges do more harm than good especially as they have become so ridiculously overpriced as to burden young people with tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of school loans. We shouldn’t go to college merely for a credential or diploma but because of the marvelous value in learning new things, reading new books, hearing learned lectures, training our minds and of course broadening our horizons. We cannot study medicine at home or nursing or dentistry but unless one wants to become an academic credentials and diplomas are not crucial.

I encourage my students to be adventurous with languages When one learns the word “problem” one is not learning merely one word in one language but a common word in 20 or more languages. Before I knew the word for “wine” or “water” in Morocco or Greece I asked for “Coca-Cola” or “Cafe”.

My grandfather was not a formally educated man -he went to sea at age 8- but he was an avid reader of newspapers and the Bible. He was very wise in practical things what my father called “Argyll Trench Wisdom” or what Aristotle would call phronesis)
When I was a small boy I asked him why we spoke English if we were’t English-especially outside the home- and he replied “Is e Beurla cànan nam bancaichean agus nan gunnaichean mòra” (English is the language of the banks and the long-range guns). “That’s why everyone speaks English including the English!”

]
In other words English was the language of technology and money. We didn’t hear much German because the Kaiser and Hitler lost. He could speak several languages with a reasonable fluency including Hindi, French and his native Gaelic though he could not read and write these languages well, especially Hindi because all he knew was a soldier’s patois from close contact with Indian Army soldiers. They called him “Changa Gora Spahis” (the Good White Soldier) and “Changa Dhost” (the Good Comrade) Shikaaree Tommy (Tommy the Scout or Hunter).

Auld Pop, as we called him, always said, that knowing another language was one way to favorably impress your non-English comrades and associates about your respect for their culture and language as well as your seriousness of purpose and sincerity. To make good with the natives one must have tea and share meals with them, share photos, songs. And it helped enormously to greet them and speak to them in their native lingo.

It was not just fun; it really was often a matter of life of death. The bonds of the Highland soldier with the Indian Army soldiers particularly the Gurkhas and Sikh were very strong.

These were men who would lay down their lives for you, your friends, your King and your country. The Old Breed had served together on the Northwest Frontier prior to 1939 or 1914 for years. I am always taken by the fact whereas many Americans or Latin Americans have no idea about the differences between Scotsmen (Highlanders) and Englishmen, Indians and Nepalese almost ALWAYS know. They know what bagpipes are and who wears kilts.

Many Indian officers and NCO’s spoke English, of course, but the rank and file soldiers generally spoke, Hindi as well as their native dialect (Bengali or Punjabi).

But the Highlanders knew instinctively that Punjabi, in particular, was very close to Gaelic.

So the soldiers created their own English/Gaelic/Punjabi/Hindi patois. I learned some as a boy (I used to give commands to my toy Indian Regiments). Of course, I have regular contact with Indian immigrants and their families so I continue to pick up a few words and phrases.

1. Maiṁ zakhamī hāṁ (Me wounded I am) Tha mi a ’gearradh “zakahmi”
2. Ḍākaṭara sāhiba /doctor sahib
3. Ḍagaṭāṭa /Dugout
4. Maśīna gana (Machine gun)
5. topa (cannon) saila (shell)
6. Rā’īphala Enfield Enfield rifle
7. Mērī rā’īphala (my rifle)
8. Tuhāḍī rā’īphala (your rifle)
   
9. Baka (bunk)
10. Narasa (Nurse)
11. Hasapatāla (Hospital)
    
12. An-diugh (“today”) in Punjabi “AJA”.
13. Assalaam vaalekum (Greetings)
14. ek/ika (one) do (two) tina (three) cara (four) panj (five)
15. Malakē (excrement/caca)
16. Pēśāba  (piss/urinate)
17. Laiṭarīna (latrine)
18. Zīrō (Zero)
19. Kō’ī nahīṁ  (nobody)
20. Kujha nahīṁ  (nothing)
21. Mahāna (Great)
22. Chōṭā  (small/wee)
23. forest/jungle ( jagala )
24. Kairōsīna lao/ Bring Kerosene Thoir Kerosene
    
25. daytime (Dina dē dina) an-diugh an diugh Today/Today
26. Tha iad marbh a tha ann. ( Ha eeat marv a ha ow-n) They are dead all about -Gaelic) Uha mara ga’ē hana.
27. Śaila sadaka (Shell shock)
    
28. And the vital communication:
    303 Gōlī lao. (Bring 303 ammunition) Panee Lao (Bring water) Nan lao (Bring bread/food) Chai lao (Bring tea) Garm chai lao (Bring warm tea)(goil tea /boiling tea) vhiskee lao (Bring whisky) Ram lao (Bring Rum) Drika lao (Bring drinks -alcohol) The Highlanders were not usually satisfied with rum and in the Salonika campaign they had plenty of opportunity to make their own poteen.
    
29. Give him covering fire! (Covering fire de-do! )” Covering Fire “Tabhair dha ” (Ta-ar da)
30. Cheldi /Cheldi (quickly quickly)
31. Changa sipāhī (good soldier)
32. Changa dhost (good comrade)
33. Patanī atē bacē (wife and children)
    
34. Yūrapī ādamī (European “Adam” Man)
35. Rasi (Rosary)
36. yeeshu (Jesus)
    
37. Raijamaiṇṭa (Regiment)
    
38. Karanala Colonel
39. Kapatāna (Captain)
40. Laiphaṭīnaiṇṭa (“left tenant” lieutenant)
41. Sārajaiṇṭa (Sergeant)
42. Lānsa kārapōrēla (lance corporal)
    
43. Pharānsīsī (Frenchman)
44. Briṭiśa (British)
45. Sakāṭiśamaina (Scotsman)
46. Yaiṅkī (Yankee) Amarīkī (American)
    
47. Sikha (Sikh)
48. Gōrakhā (Gurkha)
49. Turakasa (Turks)
50. Afarīkī (African)
    
51. Balagēīana (Bulgarians/Buggers)
52. Kaithōlika ādamī (Catholic “Adam” Man) Duine Caitligeach
53. Hā’īlaiṇḍa sipāhī (Highland Soldier)
54. Kuli (coolie)
55. Bāībala (Bible)
56. Sagrahi de-do (give him the bayonet)
57. Duśamaṇa māri’ā gi’ā hai The enemy is dead/slain
58. Kaidī Jaga (POW Prisoner of War)
59. Kill bad Jairmens (Germans). Jaramanaza mara nu maro.
60. Mahāna jaga ( Great War An Cogadh Mòr)
61. Āraminasa dina (Armistice Day)
62. Santi/Peace (sith)
63. Bara (Bar)
64. beeyar (beer)
    
65. Rajah ko ….Don rìgh /to the King!
66. Māta bhūmī (Motherland)
    
67. Tuhānū (Godspeed)
68. Huṇa la’ī ṭā ṭā (Ta ta for now/So long for now)
    
69. Ākharī pōsaṭa (last post)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2FKGwZ9oMs
    Of course, I have been to Ypres (Wipers) and the Menin Gate where my grandfather and his Scottish pals and Indian comrades fought in the Ypres Salient. Many, many fell.
70. NE OBLIVISCARIS do not forget.
    Passchendaele 100th Anniversary – Menin Gate Ceremony:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWIhawmIlng