Don't shoot the pianist. (keeping in perspective the importance of studying Greek and Latin) (Column)

From: The Economist (US) | Date: February 19, 1994 | Copyright information

A humorous look at the importance of studying Greek and Latin for mastering English is provided. There is a tendency to overemphasize terms and usage from the past and not allow current users of English to communicate with appropriately modern words.

MUCH nonsense is talked in Britain about Greek and Latin. True, the foundations of western culture were laid in those tongues (with some help from Hebrew); and, yes, the Iliad in Homer's Greek is one thing, translations are another. Tr...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research

Latin is Greek to me. (Latin language) (Technical Writer)
Journal of Environmental Health ; Although training in the classical languages (viz. Latin and Greek) is no longer central to professional degree programs, Latin and Greek words, phrases and abbreviations still are common in formal technical and scientific writing, so a technical writer must be familiar with their meaning and
It's all Greek to them
The Record (Bergen County, NJ) ; EVONNE COUTROS, STAFF WRITER The Record (Bergen County, NJ) 09-10-2006 It's all Greek to them -- Students of all stripes find the language serves a purpose By EVONNE COUTROS, STAFF WRITER Date: 09-10-2006, Sunday Section: LOCAL Edtion: All Editions Last year, as Ki-Woong Jin was thumbing through
Cryptomania! Teleporting into Greek and Latin with the Cryptokids
New England Reading Association Journal ; FINE, EDITH HOPE (2004). Cryptomania! Teleporting into Greek and Latin with the Cryptokids. Illustrated by Kim Doner. Berkeley: Tricycle Press. ISBN 1582460620. In true Magic School Bus style, we are immediately involved with a lively group of kids who are dreading their vocabulary test, just as
Latin lovers return
The Scotsman ; T he Roman poet Ovid once wrote: "Rident stolidi verba Latina" - fools laugh at the Latin language. Twenty-first-century Philistines who would declare that Latin and ancient Greek are dead might care to consider his words, written in the first century BC. The Classical Association of Scotland (CAS)
It's all Greek -- and Latin -- to students
The Boston Globe ; AMHERST -- To the teachers, the success of this week's Junior Classics League convention, the largest in 30 years, was its "synergy" -- a Greek-derived word, of course. And most of the 1,700 junior high and high school students here could probably easily cite the roots of that word: "syn," Greek