Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare;
Hoc tantum possum dicere: non amo te.
I do not love thee, Dr. Fell, the reason why I cannot tell.
This one thing alone I'm able to tell: I do not love thee, Dr. Fell.
For some reason, this silly little poem reminds me of Papa Roger. He used to recite little ditties that his mother, Granny Anne, used to make him memorize, and I'm sure this was one of them. So in honour of Papa Roger, I asked my students to memorize the Latin version. They took it on with much gusto, except one. I suggested she put it to music. She decided to play the part of Olga the Viking, and sing it opera-style. We invited Dr. O, the headmaster, to the 'performance', and he graciously accepted, gallantly sitting through the extremely painful performance! She was a good sport and recited the poem with much wailing and hysteria.
After all, Latin could be quite tedious, if a little merriment were not injected into the lessons!
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2 comments:
Papa Roger's version was quite funny and was based on a college roommate (named Tiffen Hayes) that he hated. After he finally got the school to move him to a new room, and his roommate asked why, he replied:
"I do not like thee, Tiffen Hayes. The reason why I will not say. But this I know and know always, I do not like thee, Tiffen Hayes!"
He always told this story with lots of energy after a little scotch.
Oh Emi, that's so funny! I knew I'd heard something like it from him, but I have such a lousy memory, I never would have remembered that. How on earth did you remember the verse?? Did you write it down? Anywhichway, thanks for the enlightenment!
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