Winter Under Where

Admit it, you thought I confused "where" and "wear" in the subject line above. Actually, it's a play on the made up Latin phrase "hiems sub ubi," which translates into the three English words "winter," "under" and "where." My Latin IV teacher at Bishop Ryan High School, Father John O'Leary, used to tell us tongue-in-cheek that those words formed the phrase "winter underwear." His other so-called joke was to ask, "Habesne sed?" The translation of "habesne" is "Do you have?" "Sed" is the Latin conjunction for "but." Put it together and it translates into "Do you have a butt?" Yep, even though Latin is accused of being a dead language, there were times when it was fun to learn. Father O had us rolling in the aisles.

Most adults in the US probably did not study Latin. The main reason I did was because my first high school, Assumption High, only offered Latin or Spanish to the boys, and I was afraid of the bullwhip-wielding Spanish teacher, Father Colonese. Therefore, I took Latin by default. Regardless of whether or not you have studied Latin, there are three English abbreviations, each having Latin roots, which I strongly advise you to learn. They are: "e.g."; "i.e."; and "viz." The first two I have seen erroneously exchanged for one another by people who should know better, and the third one is simply underused.

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The abbreviation "e.g."stands for the Latin term "exempla gratia," which means "by the grace of an example." You use that abbreviation to introduce examples of what you wrote before.

Example: I have traveled to several southern states, e.g., Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

It is often useful to separate your examples from the rest of the sentence with parentheses.

Example: There are a few NFL teams (e.g., the Patriots, the Packers and the Rams) which are unlikely to draft a quarterback in the first round.

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Don't use "e.g." when you should be using "i.e." The abbreviation "i.e." stands for the Latin term "id est," which means "that is." You do not use "i.e." if you are about to show examples. Instead, you would employ the abbreviation "e.g." Conversely, "i.e." is usually used to show a specific identification of what you wrote before, similar to an appositive.

Example: The meteorologists warned their viewers of the hazardous road condition which is the most difficult for a driver to see, i.e. black ice.

Example: Momma Romano waited until she retired from the restaurant business before she revealed her secret ingredient, guanciale, i.e., cured pork jowl.

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The third abbreviation which I commend for your consideration is "viz. " The full Latin word would be "videlicet," but in shorthand English it's translated as "namely." As I wrote above, the use of "viz" is minimal, perhaps due to the fact that the difference between "viz." and "i.e." is subtle. Both abbreviations are used to introduce something specific (rather than a set of examples) to an antecedent. A good writer will use variety, both in choice of words and in sentence structure. Instead of using "i.e." repeatedly, try substituting "viz." occasionally. Maybe you can fool people into thinking you're a Latin scholar.

Example: Lennon and McCartney were inspired to keep changing the style of their music compositions by the competition they faced from their chief contemporary rivals, viz., Jagger and Richards.

Example: NASA is mostly interested in exploring the two planets which are closest to the earth, viz., Venus and Mars, although missions to more distant planets are also part of the space program.

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Finally, and since we're on the topic of Latin-rooted abbreviations, I would like to throw in a short warning about the term "et cetera," which is abbreviated "etc." Be careful not to pronounce that term "EK setera." Phonetically, it's "ET setera." The Latin word "et" means "and"; the Latin word "cetera" means "other" or "other things." Thus, "et cetera" is translated to say "and other things."

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I was going to finish this post with another Latin joke, but I'm afraid I've used up the only two I know in the first paragraph. So, I simply bid you "Vale!"