Latin on YouTube

Let it officially be noted that Latin has arrived on YouTube as well as Wicipedia Latina and no doubt somewhere on Latin Twitter.

As you might expect, there are plenty of options on YouTube including Pope Benedict XVI and Bella Stellae (aka Bella Stellārum) (cum Lucius Skywalker et Darth Vader) which translates the key confonrtation between Luke and his father as “Nōōōō…n”.

If you prefer the classics, you can always catch the Latin grammar lesson from Life of Brian. You can also catch the latest Harvard Commencement Latin Salutatories and an ad for the Roman suburb Civitas Angeli (aka Los Angeles).

But the one that shows what most people think of Latin is the Qui Quad Quod rap – which is just the relative clause declension recited as a rap. Don’t know what qui quae quod means? Neither do they. There’s a reason why Latin is regarded as one of the great example of memorization with no meaning. For the record, only 1 person in 20 was able to correctly conjugate hic haec hoc in out Latin historical linguistics seminar.

Still I’m sort of touched that Latin can inspire this much devotion and silliness on the Web. At this point, cheesy Latin jokes are as long a tradition as reading Vergil.

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