'Green Eggs and Ham' Put Into Latin

Yahoo News! ^ | Thu Sep 25 | ULA ILNYTZKY

[nickcarraway]

NEW YORK - "Green Eggs and Ham" is an easy read. After all, the late Theodore Geisel, belovedly known as Dr. Seuss, wrote it after his editor challenged him to do a book in just 50 words.

But have you tried to read it in Latin?

Retitled "Virent Ova! Viret Perna!!" the Seuss classic has been rendered into Latin by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers Inc. of Wauconda, Ill. The target audience is "people who took Latin in school and have fond remembrance of it, teachers and students who take Latin — and, of course, Seuss fans," Kelly Hughes, a spokeswoman for the publisher, said Wednesday.

Two Seuss books that were translated earlier, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Cat in the Hat," have sold a combined 60,000 copies in Latin.

Translators Terence and Jennifer Tunberg, husband and wife professors in the Department of Classical Languages at the University of Kentucky, did not aim for a literal interpretation of the tale, in which the character named Sam-I-Am tries to get a friend to try green eggs and ham in a box, with a fox, in the rain, on a train, etc.

Instead, they went for a Seusslike rhythm of the eight-syllable lines.

In English, you get, "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am."

In Latin, you get, "

Sum 'Pincerna' nominatus, Famulari ... nunc paratus!"

Sharon Kazmierski, a teacher of Latin and columnist for "The Classical Outlook," the journal of the American Classical League, reviewed "Virent Ova!"

"Instead of literally translating the classic, Jennifer and Terence Tunberg have written this book in the same style that Theodore Geisel might have if he were fluent in neo-Latin. This book doesn't just look like a Seuss book. It sounds like a Seuss book," Kazmierski said.

"Virent Ova! Viret Perna!!" is accompanied by Dr. Seuss' original whimsical drawings. A glossary of Latin-to-English vocabulary and a note on "How to Read These Verses" appear at the back of the book.

Whichever recipe one chooses, of course, the result is the same.

Sam's once-defiant sidekick concludes:

"Mihi placent, O Pincerna!

"Virent ova! Viret perna!

"Dapem posthac non arcebo.

"Gratum tibi me praebebo."

In other words:

"I do so like green eggs and ham.

"Thank you, thank you Sam-I-Am!"

[Held_to_Ransom]

Weeny, weedy, weaky.

When the ancient Brits heard Caeser describe them that way, they totally disheartened and simply gave up.

[fqued]

Personally, I think teaching Latin would be a great thing to do

The most important classes I took in high school were Latin and Greek--it taught me how what I say means what it says (got that?).
In essence, I think of English in terms of Latin and Greek syntax, because English syntax is so amorphous. Who ever learned about the optative or the pluperfect subjunctive in an English Class? And yet, we do, indeed, speak in ways that make sense when thought of in terms of the syntax of Latin and Greek.

[RandallFlagg]

Osama surrenders to Bush Dr. Seuss style:

OBL - "Would you like me in a box? Could you like me crushed by rocks?"
Bush - "I would not could not in a box. I could not would not crushed on rocks. I do not want you here nor there. I would not want you breathing air."

[Willie Green]

Two Seuss books that were translated earlier, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Cat in the Hat," have sold a combined 60,000 copies in Latin.

Shucks. That means I still gotta wait until they do "Horton Hatches The Egg"

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I love it!

I have a friend who took Latin all through Catholic high school. I only learned a couple of songs & phrases in Latin in my short stint at Catholic school. This will make a great XMAS gift. <:D

[Charles Henrickson]

The decline in the study of Latin, generally, can be traced, in large part, to the abandoning of the Latin Mass by Vatican II in the early-to-mid 1960s. That may or may not have been a good thing in other respects--that would be a whole 'nother discussion--but for interest and instruction in Latin it was disastrous. Homeschooling and the classical education movement have been the best things for the revival of Latin in the last 10-15 years.

[rustbucket]

I have a friend who took Latin all through Catholic high school. I only learned a couple of songs & phrases in Latin in my short stint at Catholic school. This will make a great XMAS gift.

Here it is in redneck (from Dialecticizer that somebody posted a few days ago)

ah have a friend who took Latin all through Catholic high skoo. ah only larned a couple of songs & phrases in Latin in mah sho't stint at Catholic skoo. This hyar will make a great XMAS gif'.

In jive:

I gots some homey who took Latin all drough Cadolic high farm. ah' only learned some couple uh beats & phrases in Latin in mah' sho't stint at Cadolic farm. Dis gots'ta make some great XMAS gift. Man!

In Elmer Fudd:

I have a fwiend who took Watin aww thwough Cathowic high schoow. I onwy weawned a coupwe of songs & phwases in Watin in my showt stint at Cathowic schoow. Dis wiww make a gweat XMAS gift.

[boris]

"Twas Brillo, and the G.E. stoves
Did Procter and Gamble in the Glade;
All Pilsbury were the tasty loaves,
And in a Minute Maid.

'Beware the Station Break, my son--
The voice that lulls, the ads that vex;
Beware the doctor's claim and shun
That horror called 'Brand X'!

He took his Q-Tip swab in hand,
Long time the Maxim foe he sought;
Then rested he by the Tum-Tum tree
And stood a while in thought.

And as in Jello thought he stood,
The Station-Break, with eyes of flame,
Came charging through the Pride-hazed wood--
And cream-rinsed as it came!

It charged--and through and through the Q-Tip swab
Went Snicker-snack! He Dreft its head,
And with its head he went galumphing back.

'And hast thou slain the Station-Break?!
Oh, come to my arms, my Excedrin boy!
Oh chocolate pie, oh Metrecal! He chortled in his joy.

Twas Brillo, and the G.E. stoves
Did Procter and Gamble in the Glade;
All Pilsbury were the tasty loaves,
And in a Minute Maid.

--my imperfect memory's version of Mad Magazine's version of Jabberwocky

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

The Elmer Fudd has me waffing out woud!!! I weawwy wike it!!

[Centurion2000]

I have a friend who took Latin all through Catholic high school. I only learned a couple of songs & phrases in Latin in my short stint at Catholic school. This will make a great XMAS gift.

Here it is in redneck (from Dialecticizer that somebody posted a few days ago)

For an excellent laugh .... take a technical resume (with jargon and acronyms) and pop it through the dialectizer on Swedish Chef mode .....

funny stuff man :)

[autoresponder]

[Moonman62]

Someone should translate Jackson's "Stay Out the Bushes" speek into Latin so it might make sense. Or at least could be more easily ignored.

How about "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"?

[strela]

Bumped and bookmarked. More "punishment lines" for wayward Jesuit students ;)

[Timesink]

It might have been a different appearance. I do remember it vividly, though. I thought it quite hilarious at the time. The joke, as I recall, was that the control room people didn't want a lecture from Jesse about hiring more minorities. Or at least that was the implication. In those days he could make fun of himself, intentionally. Now he does it unintentionally.

Two different appearances. The control room gag appeared during an SNL episode hosted by Jesse Jackson sometime around 1984. (IMHO, it was one of the single funniest episodes SNL has ever produced. That entire era of SNL, when it had cast members like Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Harry Shearer, etc., is woefully underrated, and arguably more consistently hilarious than any other period in the show's history. It was certainly more intellectual and took a hell of a lot more chances.) The Green Eggs and Ham reading, however, took place the week Dr. Seuss died (early '90s?). They had Jesse come in and read it during Weekend Update.

"

[RightField]

Fidem meam obligo vuxillo civitatem federalem Americae et Res Publicae quo stat; uni Nationi, sub Deo, non dividendae, cum libertate et iusquiasque, omnibus.

The Pledge of Allegiance translated into Latin.

[Remole]

Of course, he did not say "Thank you." He said, "Gratiam ago tibi."

[livius]

My knowledge of the structure of Latin has been an enormous help in learning all of the modern languages I later learned (including non-Romance languages).

The best thing we could do to help kids read and write better, IMHO, would be to restore the teaching of Latin. But it should be started in the early grades. If you check the internet, you'll find that there are all sorts of really enjoyable teaching aids for Latin (games, stories, etc), particularly for teaching Latin to elementary school age kids.

I would imagine these things are used mostly by homeschoolers.

[Rutabega]

Jesse Jackson, dispicable as he is, reading 'Green Eggs and Ham' was one of the funniest things I ever remember on 'Saturday Night Live'!!!

[livius]

The decline in the study of Latin, generally, can be traced, in large part, to the abandoning of the Latin Mass by Vatican II ...

That's true. And, coincidentally, I've always thought the decline in the church started with their abandoning Latin...

[AnAmericanMother]

What is it that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum!
Implet in the Corn and High
Terror me Motoris Bi:
Bo Motoris clamitabo
Ne Motore caeder a Bo --
Dative be or Ablative
So thou only let us live:
Whither shall thy victims flee?
Spare us, spare us, Motor Be!
Thus I sang; and still anigh
Came in hordes Motores Bi,
Et complebat omne forum
Copia Motorum Borum.
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti Bis Motoribus?
Domine, defende nos
Contra hos Motores Bos!

--A.D. Godley