One of the dangers of language is that the meanings of words often change with usage. People used to call God “awful,” because He inspired a sense of awe and wonder—now it means really bad; a “nice” person used to be someone who was silly, foolish or simple—now it means they’re friendly; and the word “naughty” meant to have nothing, long before it became a word for someone who behaves badly.
Why is that a danger? Because over time, it becomes harder and harder to understand and fully appreciate what the thinkers, writers, and speakers of the past really meant; and it makes it easier and easier for people who want to distort the past to do so…by just changing the language of the present.
One of the great virtues of Latin is that its very death as a spoken language has allowed it largely to preserve its meaning. The distorters and the deconstructors of language are powerless against it. Latin words still mean exactly what they meant—and that’s important these days, when everyone wants to be Humpty Dumpty, who said: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
As Chesterton observed, “Every living language is a dying language, even if it does not die. Parts of it are perpetually perishing or changing their sense; there is only one escape from that flux; and a language must die to be immortal.” Latin is a dead language, indeed—and so much the better.
Now, for the Friday Funnies:
A priest and a bus driver both go to Heaven at the same time. St. Peter shows the bus driver his house, which is three houses away from God.
During this time, the priest is thinking to himself, “Since I’m a priest I should be right next to God!”
Then St. Peter turns towards the priest and beckons him to follow. The priest follows for three miles when they finally come to a house. St. Peter tells the priest that this is his house.
The priest looks horrified and says to St. Peter, “I don’t understand! The bus driver is really close to God and I’m a priest! That doesn’t make sense!
St. Peter replies, “Oh, that’s easy to explain. When you preach, people sleep. When the bus driver drives, people pray.”
Have a wonderful day.
