I'm sure some of you are going to notice that the spell names are all in Latin.

And not Latin as in 'Hispanic,' Latin as in 'Roman Empire.'

This is directed at those towering intellectuals who feel the need to point out
mistakes in my spelling, pronunciation, declension, syntax, love life, or
whatever else it is they feel the need to correct me on.  To these people, I
the simplest way to get my message across is:  GET A LIFE.

I don't speak latin.  I started learning it once, but gave up before I got very
far at all.  I don't care.  Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.  It
doesn't -matter- whether it's "right" or "wrong."  As a quick matter of right
and wrong, though, what is up with "Classical Latin?"

There's a group of people who haven't spoken latin for centuries, then over the
course of several years or so, they decide that they've "figured out just what
it sounded like, back in the day when it was -the- language."  Well, this (of
course) flies in the face of "Ecclesiastical Latin" (AKA, Church Latin).  The
Church has been around for 2000 years.

In the Church, Latin never went out of style.  They never stopped hearing it,
and they never stopped speaking it.  So I find it hard to believe that a group
of people could spontaneously decide what it sounded like.

Languages evolve, of course.  2,000 years ago, the letter 'j' was not in the
Roman alphabet.  However, it's commonly used now.  Does it matter?  Who gives
a rat's ass?  Take a look at Old English, and compare it with Modern English.

Most people can't understand more than a few syllables of Old English, because
the language changes -vastly- in just a few centuries.  My point is that if
Ecclesiastical Latin is "wrong," then the odds of Classical Latin being "right"
are infinitesimally small, on the simple grounds that it is overwhelmingly
similar to Ecclesiastical Latin, and languages evolve at frantic paces.

So give the pronunciation a break.  Give the grammar a break.  It's just -a
game-, and it's there to play with and have fun.  I'm not delivering lectures
on latin to anybody (and at this rate, I'm sure I never will).  I'm not making
an effort to say that "I'm right, this is cool."  Of course there's grammar,
syntax, and (possibly) spelling mistakes in there.

I really couldn't care less.  That said, please don't email me about this,
unless you want me to forward you a copy of this document as a reply.

-sibn
