It all came from Fox News and their War on America.

I can gist Latin out, but usually pass it through Google Translate. I never studied that language. From my knowledge of French and Spanish, I usually get pretty close, but I always like to check. In any case, I certainly don't take the War on Christmas to heart.

...it's not necessarily for your benefit.

There are lurkers.
Lurkers everywhere and everywhen.
I post in Latin for them.

It's my subtle form of twisting a knife.

How odd. I'm envisioning a bunch of Priests poring through DU threads. It's a funny image.

Throughout my life, I've read a lot of 19th century books, mostly non-fiction. More often than I care for, many of them are sprinkled with aphorisms in Latin. Their authors were educated in a time when learning Latin was a requirement. In self defense, I bought a Latin to English dictionary and a basic book about Latin grammar. I started deciphering those Latin passages by using those two references, along with my knowledge of Spanish and French. Over time, I needed to consult the dictionary and grammar books less often.

All of that has served me pretty well, I think. I can read and understand newspaper language in all of the Romance languages now, although I can't speak in any other than Spanish and English. So, I do understand the utility of learning Latin.

I'm related to a few of them. When Christmas is weeks away, some Christians get really nasty toward any poor sod of a store clerk who doesn't Merry Christmas to them. They do make a point to pick on employees who are on the clock, and who therefore can't tell them to fuck off without losing their jobs. I've never seen them harass anyone else.

If someone does that to a clerk in my presence, I'll give them what-for. So far, though I haven't encountered any such assholes.

I doubt even most of the RW Christians really give a damn. What they care about is profuse public acknowledgement and reinforcement of their self-righteous conception of themselves as superior beings.

There's a holiday which lost.