Friday, December 8, 2006

Working ...


Update: An anonymous commenter was astute enough to point out the true nature of my professional work by alluding to Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Thanks to YouTube, you can now see a sample of my classroom demeanor as dramatized by John Cleese. Unfortunately, I don't get to wear his cool outfit, or employ his method of punishment for unfinished assignments, articulated at about 2:10.



However, I must point out that "domum" is not locative, but is in fact accusative as the hapless insurgent blurts out.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:27 PM

    Procrastinating...

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  2. Anonymous5:07 PM

    panicking...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:18 PM

    CENTURION:
    What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
    BRIAN:
    It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.
    CENTURION:
    No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!
    BRIAN:
    Aah!
    CENTURION:
    Come on!
    BRIAN:
    'R-- Romanus'?
    CENTURION:
    Goes like...?
    BRIAN:
    'Annus'?
    CENTURION:
    Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?
    BRIAN:
    Eh. 'Anni'?
    CENTURION:
    'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
    BRIAN:
    'Go'. Let--
    CENTURION:
    Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
    BRIAN:
    Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.
    CENTURION:
    So 'eunt' is...?
    BRIAN:
    Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.
    CENTURION:
    But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?
    BRIAN:
    The... imperative!
    CENTURION:
    Which is...?
    BRIAN:
    Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!
    CENTURION:
    How many Romans?
    BRIAN:
    Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.
    CENTURION:
    'Ite'.
    BRIAN:
    Ah. Eh.
    CENTURION:
    'Domus'?
    BRIAN:
    Eh.
    CENTURION:
    Nominative?
    BRIAN:
    Oh.
    CENTURION:
    'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
    BRIAN:
    Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
    CENTURION:
    Except that 'domus' takes the...?
    BRIAN:
    The locative, sir!
    CENTURION:
    Which is...?!
    BRIAN:
    'Domum'.
    CENTURION:
    'Domum'.
    BRIAN:
    Aaah! Ah.
    CENTURION:
    'Um'. Understand?
    BRIAN:
    Yes, sir.
    CENTURION:
    Now, write it out a hundred times.
    BRIAN:
    Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.
    CENTURION:
    Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.
    BRIAN:
    Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!

    ReplyDelete