Tuesday 3 February 2015

The "new" & "fresh" & "creative" world we live in



[Post published by Liviu, on Liviu's [Personal] Blog]

You probably have heard of and/or have used by now some very popular English phrases.
What do you think? Are they new?
Are they the product of recent human history, of recent human advances and/or knowledge, the result of understanding life better and/or us becoming wiser as a species?

Oh, wait, some of them have been used by the Romans (who spoke Latin, btw!)... like 2000+ years ago!... and some of the phrases are themselves translations of Greek phrases, as Greek rhetoric and literature reached its peak centuries before that of ancient Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_(full)

Oh my God, I can't believe it!
(Nota bene: for the sake of irony and as a dedication to those who appreciate ironies, some of these Latin phrases have been in use even before humans inventing the concept of God in the sense we use now! :D)


"Sequere pecuniam" = "Follow the money" [en.wikipedia]

"Modus Vivendi" [en.wikipedia] = "Agree to disagree" [en.wikipedia]

"Quid pro quo" [en.wikipedia] = "something for something", "a favour for a favour", "give and take", "tit for tat", "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours"

"imperium in imperio" = "state within state" / "fifth column"

"versus" (vs) or (v.) [en.wikipedia] = "towards" / "facing"

"veto" = "I forbid"


All this reminds me of Mihai Eminescu's "Toate-s vechi și nouă toate" - English: "All is old, yet all is new"


The full wikipedia list is very interesting, so feel free to check it... if you're done "liking"/"sharing" useless fb content for today, of course! :)