Rambling Christmas Day Thoughts

In the early 1990's I developed a yen, no idea why, for French Christmas carols. On trips to New York I would look around in music stores and French stores but the only items available sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks singing pop holiday songs. I was looking more for traditional French carols. The mood passed and I forgot all about it until zooming around in Amazon yesterday. Several items are listed that look like they might fit the bill. Ah, the wonders of the Internet.

I learned some interesting things in college Latin class, how to pick up women at the coliseum (a skill that has yet to come in handy), the words to "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" in Latin (which often comes to mind for some reason), and assorted phrases that can be dropped in conversation when trying to look clever.

One class assignment involved translating a passage from the Vulgate (the Latin Bible). We all got the same thing. It wasn't "Peace on Earth, good will to men" but "Peace on Earth and to men of good will." Big difference. To find out what the original meaning was you would have to check in whatever language it was originally written in. It is interesting, though.