My mother recently told me a story of her childhood in pre-WWII England. She mentioned her friend Maggie who worked in an Antiquarian Bookstore in London and although Maggie didn't last long (she knew nothing about old books), she was delighted with the couple of old men who would frequent the store and tell each other jokes... in Latin.
They'd roar with laughter, explain the joke to Maggie and be on their way. Maggie, of course, wouldn't get the joke because it had to be told in Latin to be effective.
While amusing, it's pretentious to do such a thing, but I found myself doing something similar down at the cop shop.
There, on the wall, is a large display of emergency services badges from all over the world. It's an impressive collection and it took me some time to read through the various police, ambulance, fire and protective services crests.
One caught my attention, especially the motto. The Western Australia Police Negotiator badge. It's motto? Cacoethes Loquendi.
And what does it mean?
Well, given that Cacoethes Scribendi (Roman satirist, Juvenal) means "an incurable itch for scribbling", the motto surely means "an incurable itch for talking".
Is this pretentious or an in-joke because not many people speak latin any more? (Actually, the 'pretentiousness' comes about because, damn it, I couldn't keep my mouth shut and had to share the mirth - well, hey, it's a good in joke! Not surprisingly, my colleagues at work didn't get it. Sigh.)
I wonder how many other mottos, of companies, of families, of organisations have hidden messages and sly comments?
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