Ad hoc infinitum

The above Latin phrase belongs on my family crest, if I had one. Loosely translated it would mean “Making it up as you go.â€� Latin is a dead language, and so, it says here, it can be used to express exact meaning since the meanings do not change and evolve. This is why they use this for prescriptions and the better type of clock. 

When I say I will meet you at IV o’clock, there is no confusion, as long as I stay with even hours. Four-thirty gets a little tricky. The part that I am not clear on  is wouldn’t both languages have to be dead or how would you know if the language you are using to translate the dead language had not slipped a notch in its nuance of meaning, thus rendering your translation inaccurate? Is the doctor telling you to take one tablet twice daily or debone riblets with rice gravy, which makes no sense. There would be nothing left of the riblets if you deboned them.

Getting back to the motto, I think it is important to stay flexible. As Patton once said, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.� What he was driving at, literally, and if he was about nothing else, Patton was about driving, is that you must be prepared to change your plans based upon new information or developments.

So, in other words, your plan should be to make a plan to replace your plan, if or when ... wait a minute. I am getting lost here. I don’t have a plan for that.

u      u      u

OK, so flexibility is good. Where is the line between flexibility and indecisiveness?  I am not sure. Maybe I am. I think I’m sure.

The 18th century British Grenadiers, elite soldiers who wore tall, conical hats, used to have a Latin expression on the front of their caps, “Nec aspera terrent.� I like this one. It translates as either “Nothing terrifies us� or “Do not dry clean.� I am sure it is one of these.

Either way, it is a real morale booster for the guy next to you. It doesn’t do you as much good as it is hard to read something written on your own hat unless you have a mirror handy (and then it’s all backwards), something that British Grenadiers wouldn’t be caught dead carrying, although they did wear their hair in a pigtail which may have raised a few eyebrows.

They don’t teach Latin much anymore. It is a real shame. I just have a feeling that there is some pretty clever stuff printed on my money. Maybe it’s instructions? I could use that.

Bill Abrams resides (and tries to revive the Latin language) in Pine Plains.