h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is it just me, or do all of the above phrases seem to have an American influence.

Is latin popular on that side of the pond? I thought it would only have caught on in the places they actually invaded.

Latins is sort of like having a Britsih accent. We don't know what you're saying, but we're really impressed by it.

Outside of prep schools and Ivy League colleges, I doubt there's much interest in it. Although, I was called in to subsitute teach a latin class one time. They had bookwork to do for that period.

As an American teenager, I can personally vouch for the fact that there are at least some Americans with great amount of interest in the Latin language--and they may be younger than you think! Though we may not necessarily be part of the majority, my group of friends and I have a great interest in Latin... we love singing Latin Masses of the early Catholic Church (with no true Catholics in the group), like picking up Latin catch phrases to use in everyday life, and a handful of us are seriously considering taking Latin courses once they are offered to us at the University level. For us, Latin is not only the language of many early philosophers, whom we love to study and discuss, but also the root language to French and Spanish, our second languages. Though I can't speak for the rest of the country, I hope this clears up any misperceptions you might have about Americans and Latin.

I think it's great that you and your friends have an interest in it. When I was substitute teaching, I did read that latin students do score much higher in many tests and are more successful in college.

Good luck to you all.

I grew up pre-Vatican Council II. So every Mass that I went to, we heard in Latin. All throughout. I still have my missal that I brought to every Mass to follow along with what the priest was saying in Latin. This missal, when opened up, has the Latin on the left-hand page and English on the right-hand page. Kept us kids who could already read from fidgeting in the pews!

I took 2 years of Latin in high school. This was back in the early 70's.

Try watching the Mass on EWTN television channel. The 1st half of the Mass is in English. The 2nd half of the Mass is in Latin. The priests and the people in the pews all speak it very clearly and quickly. Lovely to hear.

If your television doesn't carry that cable TV service, try going to the Web site for EWTN...

http://www.ewtn.com

then click on the links that take you to the place where you can click to listen to the television station = or the radio station == live.

Remember that EWTN is based on America's East coast, so the time zone is Eastern Time Zone. Unless it's summer... and then it's Eastern Daylight Savings Time zone.

Enjoy!