Inquiring Minds Want to Know

My oldest, who studied Latin this past semester, is always asking me stuff like, "How do you say garbage truck and off highway truck in Latin?" or "How do you say 'Stop touching my Legos' in Latin?'" or "How do you say 'Let's watch YouTube videos of Lego garbage trucks' in Latin?"  So it got me thinking, How do you say those things?  I know that all of the official documents that come out of the Vatican are written in Latin, and that many of them are about life in the modern world and  things related to technology (media, Internet, etc...).  The ancient Romans weren't using those words, people. Someone must be making them up.  So, who?

I asked my mother, who is by all accounts the absolute smartest person I know (and I'm not just saying that because she's my mother.)  And *gasp* she didn't know.  But she did put her formidable skills to work (she is a former radio personality with an awesome voice and is kind of a tech geek) and she called up her favorite pod-casting Catholic priest, Father Roderick Vonhogen in the Netherlands, and recorded a message to his show.  He took our question!  And answered it at length.  

Check it out on The Break, where Fr. Roderick discusses topics from "the Simpsons to the Sacraments and technology to theology."  The question was answered on the December 12th show (BFR 862 - I don't really know what that means, but it seems like some sort of important reference thing...)  The intro leading up to our question starts around the 9 minute mark.  I think the question itself is close to 9:50.  And the response, informative and somewhat tangential, lasts until about the 25 minute mark.   Hope you get to listen to it!

The Break at SQPN, with Fr. Roderick

So, now we know.  And I'm happy to have gotten that out of the way because now I have some way bigger piscis to fry.  We just got some surprising news... My son and his peers at tutoring were such Latin stars, they finished the book in half the alotted time. So naturally, they. sent. him. home. with. a. GREEK. book.  Deus misereatur.  Uh, I mean, Kyrie eleison.  Whichever.  We're along for the ride either way....

ps - Want to impress your friends with your knowledge of modern-day Latin words???  Click here to learn how to say words like discotec, flirt, radio, rum, and zoosafari.... among others.  (And maybe by the end of the school year I'll be able to translate them into... Greek.  Ahhh!!!!)