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
    
    
    
    
    
    

“Lucius Cassius ille quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat identidem in causis quaerere solebat ‘cui bono’ fuisset.

The famous Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, ‘To whose benefit?” 
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Cicero was proud to consider himself the heir of the Republic’s noblest traditions. Chief among these was the age-old balance between ambition and duty. Should this be upset, then criminals might start to hack their way to the top, and tyrants to emerge. Catiline had been foiled––but he was bound to have successors. It was essential that they too be destroyed. After all, what hope was there for the Republic if the great were not the good?”

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, Tom Holland

Is it “okay to still have children?” So asked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a video last month. The New York Congresswoman said that people are graduating with thousands of “dollars of student loan debt and so they can’t even afford to have kids in the house.” But she said more than that. She claimed that child-bearing “is a basic moral question” in light of climate change and threats to the environment. She argued there is “scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be difficult.”

When an American politician asks if it is still okay to have children, this is something to notice. Are you familiar with the progressive movement and their attraction to eugenics? Then you know the score. It’s a short step from “wondering” if it’s okay for people to have children to making laws that forbid children.
— Read on stream.org/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-and-the-new-eugenics/

Apple News+ is a new unlimited magazine and newspaper subscription service that gives you access to more than 300 magazines and newspapers. “We believe in the
— Read on goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/apple-news-is-an-unlimited-magazine-and-newspaper-subscription

Amazon never reveals any actual Kindle sales figures so you never know how well they are selling or not, but you can use customer reviews to somewhat gauge
— Read on blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/03/24/new-kindle-paperwhite-already-has-more-reviews-than-kindle-oasis/

I recall the remark by Chesterton that “birth control” meant really no birth and no control. Of course, in the West since at least the 1920’s artificial birth control has become the norm. I remember a young couple I knew almost broke up because the young man said he believed (he was Polish) that all birth control within the sacrament of marriage was wrong. As an older man I gave him my counsel . I asked him if his girlfriend wanted to have children. He said she did but she wanted to finish her MA before she had children. He said he wanted to get married right away. I told him he need to decide what was the most important to him. He could choose not to marry her right away and wait or choose not to marry her at all. I told him if they practiced non-chemical non abortifacient birth control they would be doing what the majority of American Catholics do who de facto ignore the Catholic Church’s teachings on this issue. He decided to compromise. They got married immediately. They did not have children for a few years. She wanted children and they eventually had two. Neither made much money but as teachers the two could work and thus could have a middle class lifestyle. As for myself the most important value my wife and I had in common is that we wanted to start a family as soon as possible. We married relatively late in life. I was 26 and she was 27. But we were blessed with three children. Two of our children are married and within a few years of marriage each has one so we have two grandchildren. All are gainfully employed and wish to have more children. If one gives children a happy childhood and if one teaches them to have a reverence for life one hopes they will choose well. Today that is the best one can hope for. The reality is one’s children could decide to be childless. For me that would be very sad. I did not exhort my children to have children. I just encouraged them and prayed. All my children love children and our grandchildren seem very happy and healthy. One cannot un-invent artificial birth control. One must, it seems to me, peacefully coexist with it knowing it could wipe out -if uncontrolled- your family tree.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/1999/04/catholics-protestants-and-contraception