Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

November 9, 2008 By Fausta

Will I have to change my name when visiting the UK?

Fausta is an ancient Latin name. Imagine my surprise, then when I read this headliine:
Via the Baron, Councils ban ‘elitist’ and ‘discriminatory’ Latin phrases
They are phrases that are repeated ad nauseam and are taken as bona fide English, but councils have now overturned the status quo by banning staff from using Latin terms, which they claim are elitist and discriminatory.

Local authorities have ordered employees to stop using the words and phrases on documents and when communicating with members of the public and to rely on wordier alternatives instead.

The ban has infuriated classical scholars who say it is diluting the world’s richest language and is the “linguistic equivalent of ethnic cleansing”.

Bournemouth Council, which has the Latin motto Pulchritudo et Salubritas, meaning beauty and health, has listed 19 terms it no longer considers acceptable for use.

This includes bona fide, eg (exempli gratia), prima facie, ad lib or ad libitum, etc or et cetera, ie or id est, inter alia, NB or nota bene, per, per se, pro rata, quid pro quo, vis-a-vis, vice versa and even via.

Yup. Better change my name if I drop by Bournemouth.

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Filed Under: censorship, England, UK Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Latin

Comments

  1. Helen says

    November 9, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    Actually, I think that is quite a good idea since council workers are so ignorant they always use the words in the wrong way and the wrong context. They think it makes them sound vary knowledgeable. Numpties! Now if they could be banned from writing to people altogether, it would be even better.

  2. chsw says

    November 9, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Will the Council’s employees have to substitute equivalent phrases in Punjabi, Bangali, Pashto or a West Indies creole?

  3. Pat Patterson says

    November 12, 2008 at 12:20 am

    Arrive at Heathrow, walk into the transit lounge, announce, “Adsum” and then introduce yourself as Julia Agricola. Serves ’em right1

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