"Any educated person...."

[janewilliams20]

We were discussing this a while back - the phrase that probably dates you back to the 30s, and grammar schools, and the implicit assumption of a shared set of background knowledge that any reader of decent fiction could be relied upon to know, so that, for instance, Dorothy Sayers could drop a letter in French into a story and not bother to supply a translation.

I'm trained in science and IT. I stopped studying language and literature at 16. I'm not religious. I was not alive in the 1930s. I therefore find it mildly amusing/pleasing when I comment on a friend's post on Facebook (yes, stop shuddering in horror), they answer with a Bible quote in Latin, and I laugh, having got the joke. Clearly we are both "any educated person".

The other half, incidentally, who claims to be Christian, didn't recognise the quote even when I translated it for him.

Comments

[cahn]

Okay, you know that you're going to have to supply the Bible quote in Latin now! :)

(We'll see, but a priori I give myself about a 50% chance of recognizing it in Latin, and a 90% chance of recognizing it once translated, but then again, I have a fairly extensive Christian background. No Latin background. :) )

[janewilliams20]

OK :)
He was describing the dieting and weight loss he'd been doing, and explained that bacon sandwiches had been his downfall. I answered with a method of producing low-cal, low-fat bacon sandwiches. He said "RETRO ME SATANAS!"

[cahn]

Hee! I recognize the quote in English, but I'm pretty sure my mind did it backwards to Latin ("let's see, what quotes do I know with Satan in them that would be applicable - ah!") -- I've never seen it in Latin, and don't think I would have been able to get it without the context :)

And mmmmm bacon sandwiches! How in the world do you make them low-fat??

[janewilliams20]

Turkey rashers. The smoked-flavour ones, naturally.

I'd never seen it in Latin before, either, but I read enough Latin to get the approximate translation, if not the specific case and tense.

[pbristow]

Ah yes, that familiar utterance of Our Lord: "Gimme back my sultanas!" =;o>

[pbristow]

P.S.: I am honoured to be granted access to your musings here.

[janewilliams20]

I hadn't realised you were over here until I saw an echo on Facebook. Followed, read, clicked the "circles" thing.