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I saw this for the first time tonight. It delights me to no end to know that a “contest” like this would happen and that there are very clever men, like Jaroslav Pelikan, who would take the time to come up with an entry. From wikipedia:
While at Yale, Pelikan won a whimsical contest sponsored by Field & Stream magazine for Ed Zern’s column “Exit Laughing” to translate the motto of the Madison Avenue Rod, Gun, Bloody Mary & Labrador Retriever Benevolent Association (“Keep your powder, your trout flies and your martinis dry”) into Latin. Pelikan’s winning entry mentioned the martini first, but Pelikan explained that it seemed no less than fitting to have the apéritif come first. His winning entry:
Semper siccandae sunt: potio
Pulvis, et pelliculatio.
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort,
Pope St. Pius X,
St. Joseph,
St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Francis (and St. Clare),
St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Alphonsus Ligouri,
St. John Chrysostom,
But after all, Iosephe, you yourself once won a nice cash prize that was not unrelated to Latin.
True, it wasn’t unrelated to Latin, but I’ll only allow you to venerate me once I’ve won a prize for writing something in Latin. (You know, like I now venerate you in deference to the powerful men who were so charmed as to call you “cookie”.)
Would you please render a literal translation of this Latin quote since I have been known to keep all three dry myself and would like to share the motto with others?
Please no comments on my own lack of Latin…
What kind of people do you think we are? No one looks down on anyone else’s Latin around here. Nothing is more insufferable than people bragging about their Latin (though it’s awfully common).
Always (semper) they ought to be dry (siccandae sunt):
Potio (drink)
Pulvis (dust, powder)
Pelliculatio (“an alluring enticement”, i.e. bait; see Lewis & Short, page 1326a; it’s an extremely rare word)