Serbian educational system in the 1990s and early 2000s did not get many things right, but the one thing it did was to introduce Latin in high school The gymnasium, to be more precise, or what is a lycée in France and I guess prep school in the US. And while I don’t think it has the same negative connotations in Serbia and France as it does in America — lycées and gymnasiums being as public as the other high schools — that may just be cluelessness on my part. and continue it in medical school. In retrospect not nearly enough, but what little of it we had seems to have stuck. I am therefore always surprised by my American colleagues not having a clue about what some or any of the bellow mean.
- Festina lente
- Caveat emptor
- Hic Rhodus, hic salta
- Omnia mea mecum porto
- Alea iacta est
- Mens sana in corpore sano
- De gustibus non est disputandum
- Deus ex machina
- Lupus in fabula
- Teneo te, Africa
- Cogito, ergo sum
Some of these have been repeated so often that they are part of the popular culture. I would expect gamers and fans of sci-fi to be familiar with Deus ex machina, and connoisseurs of expensive watches should have heard about Festina lente. To be clear, I’ve maybe heard of… 30% of what’s on this Wikipedia list. Looking at it, American lawyers should know more Latin that the doctors, but is that actually the case?