Words and What They Remind Me Of

Anus means old woman in Latin.  Sometimes, when I walk along the street and see old women, I remember “anus.”  The plural of anus is also anus (but the plural has a macron or line above the letter “u” – anūs).

Pera means a backpack or a satchel.  When you find someone attractive because of her/his pera, it may mean you like her/his bag.  Pera means money in Filipino/Tagalog.

Una may refer to the number one, but as an adverb it means together or together with.  I am una (together with) Armie Hammer.  That is wishful thinking.  Armie is married.  I prefer single men.  Of course, it does not mean non cupio (I do not desire) him.

Cupio does remind us of Cupid, doesn’t it?  Cupido (Cupid) is the son of Venus (the goddess of love in Roman mythology) and is a personification of sensuality.  Images of Cupid are ubiquitous during Valentine’s.

There was a street in the City of Manila called Misericordia.  The street now goes by a different name.  In Latin, misericordia means pity or compassion.  Misericors means merciful and cor means heart (cordis means “of the heart” and the English adjective cordial is derived from this), so misericors also means tender-hearted.

Lapis is pencil in Filipino/Tagalog but means stone or jewel in Latin.  If you can not afford to give your partner a jewel at this time, give her/him a pencil for the time being.  Give the actual gem later on.

Fartus means filled.  Panis means bread.  In Filipino/Tagalog, panis means putrid or rotten.  Fartus sounds like the air that comes out of our asses.  Joined together, panis fartus means sandwich.  Literally, panis fartus means filled bread.

There is no exact Latin word for sandwich because the word “sandwich” (that refers to the food that we eat) only came to be in the 1700s.¹  The Roman Empire, which used Latin as its language, fell long before the 1700s.^{2, 3, 4}  I expect the Romans ate sandwiches.  They just did not call them sandwiches.

Google translates sandwich into Latin as Sandwico (with a capital S).

Related to the sandwich is the hamburger whose creation, discovery or popularity was also after the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Latin word for hamburger may be minutal which literally means dish of minced meat (or ground meat).

Google translates hamburger into Latin as frustrum assae.  Frustum, not frustrum, means scrap of food.  The Latin noun assa means nanny or nurse, and assae means “of the nanny” or “of the nurse.”  The Latin adjective assa means roasted or baked and is feminine.  Its masculine equivalent is assus; neuter assum.  Frustum assum means roasted food.

Assus, assa, assum all have “ass” in them, and I am reminded of the anus once again.⁵

Notes

¹Andrew F. Smith.  Hamburger: A Global History.  London: Reaktion Books, 2008.  12.

²Michael Grant.  History of Rome.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978.  435.

The book places the end of the Western Roman Empire at 476 CE.

³Christopher Allmand, ed.  The New Cambridge Medieval History, c.1415-1500.  Vol. 7.  1998.  Cambridge: University Press, 2006.  182.

The book places the end of the Eastern Roman Empire, via the fall of Constantinople, at 1453 CE.

⁴“Byzantine Empire.”  Ancient History.  History.com, 2010.  Web.  17 Nov. 2017.  <www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/byzantine-empire>.

This article about the Eastern Roman Empire a.k.a. Byzantine Empire is much easier to read than The New Cambridge Medieval History and is readily accessible online.

⁵Remembering asses when seeing old women raises my feminist red flag.  It is not my intention to slight old women or to be ageist.  Familiar words surface in language learning and can give learners a surprise when the meaning is different from what they have grown accustomed to.  This surprise contributes to the words’ prominence in learners’ recall (against their better judgment).

Wonderful Cars from Woeful Figures of History

Even evil people may leave great legacies that benefit humanity.  Their trespasses do not discount the fact that they did something good, too.  I refer to two anti-Semites: Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford.  Hitler undoubtedly is the most notorious anti-Semite of all time.  Not as infamous is Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford who promoted anti-Semitism in his newspaper The Dearborn Independent and series of pamphlets The International Jew.¹

Hitler was actually inspired by Ford and “also believed the automaker shared much of his ideology.”¹

Ford’s descendants do not share their predecessor’s views.²  Ford Foundation which has helped a lot of causes exists to this day and is founded by Henry Ford.  Ford’s letter of apology to Louis Marshall can be downloaded from the American Jewish Committee Web site.³

The best-known car of all time⁴ and the most recognizable car name in the world⁵ is the Volkswagen Beetle also known as the Bug.

The car was commissioned for production by Adolf Hitler who envisioned the Bug as the people’s car.  It is well known that Henry Ford made cars inexpensive for Americans.  Hitler was inspired by Ford’s people’s car concept and prompted the creation of the Bug.¹

The Beetle is the first car in Antarctica⁶ and the No. 4 best-selling car of all time.⁷

We see and recognize Volkswagen Beetles everywhere.  Ford Motor Company has produced great cars through the decades.  Ford Mustang, in particular, is one of the most famous cars ever made and holds the No. 8 position as the most recognizable car name.⁵

We do not consider the villainous minds that spawned these cars when we see, use or buy them.  Should we?  The sin of the father is not the sin of the son.⁸

When sincere efforts have been exerted to rectify a mistake, it may be in our best interest not to bother with who created what – in time (not right away but in time).  Some things are easier said than done.  It takes a while for many of us to forgive when wronged.  And, we shall never forget.⁹

Notes

¹Phil Patton.  Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World’s Most Famous Automobile.  2002.  Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004.  8.

²Ronnie Schreiber.  “Henry Ford II and the Jews – Righting a Wrong.”  News Blog.  The Truth About Cars, 13 Dec. 2012.  Web.  24 Sep. 2017.  <www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/12/henry-ford-ii-and-the-jews-righting-a-wrong/>.

The title of this article goes back to an earlier publication, the book Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate by Neil Baldwin, published by PublicAffairs in 2002.

³Statement by Henry Ford.  30 June 1927.  New York: The American Jewish Committee, 1927.  <www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/F-46.PDF>.

⁴Patton 2.

⁵Raphael Orlove.  “The Ten Most Recognizable Car Names.”  Answers of the Day.  Jalopnik, 26 Aug. 2014.  Web.  16 Oct. 2017.  <jalopnik.com/the-ten-most-recognizable-car-names-1626803583>.

⁶Raphael Orlove.  “This Was the First Car in Antarctica.”  Car History.  Jalopnik, 15 Dec. 2011.  Web.  16 Oct. 2017.  <jalopnik.com/5868236/this-was-the-first-car-in-antarctica>.

⁷Wade Thiel.  “The 25 Best-Selling Cars of All Time.”  Automobiles.  CheatSheet, 11 Oct. 2017.  Web.  16 Oct. 2017.  <www.cheatsheet.com/automobiles/best-selling-cars-of-all-time.html/?a=viewall>.

⁸The sentence is based on Ezekiel 18:20 from the Holy Bible and varies in syntax depending on what bible version (New International Version, King James, etc.) is consulted.  Whatever version is used, the message remains intact.

⁹The pink triangle as a gay symbol traces its roots to the Holocaust when Nazis assigned a symbol for each group they massacred.  When I had my identity crisis in the late 1980s, I searched book stores and libraries for reading materials about homosexuality.  In the early days of the gay movement, the activists appropriated the pink triangle to send the message that never again shall they (we) allow such atrocity toward their (our) kind.  The pink triangle is now a symbol of gay pride.  Apart from history books, I also read fictional representations of gay men in different genres.  The book adaptation of Mart Crowley’s play The Boys in the Band is especially memorable to me because it captured the pervasive homophobia of its time, and it brought home the point that a Jewish gay man is doubly persecuted – for being gay and for being Jewish.  The inverted pink triangle and The Boys in the Band endowed me with a personal remembrance that consistently reminds me of what it is like to be persecuted and of the power in our voices, our efforts, to stop a juggernaut like Adolf Hitler.  I shall never forget.

Friendship in the Time of Tokhang

Incumbent Philippine President Duterte vowed to fight drug trafficking, and this has led to “tokhang.”  Wiktionary defines tokhang as “1. (of a law enforcer) to knock on a suspected drug trafficker or drug addict’s home to persuade them to surrender and stop their illegal activities; 2. (slang) to fall victim to extrajudicial killing…”¹

I have had friends who are drug users.  I do not know of anyone who is a drug pusher.  A very dear friend uses methamphetamine once a month (with occasional 3-month intervals).  I have never witnessed him take drugs because I told him a long time ago that we can not be under the same roof when he is taking prohibited drugs.

Recently, my friend told me that the barangay had told him someone’s looking for him.  He is now in the tokhang watchlist.  My friend and whoever was looking for him have never crossed paths, so far.

My dear friend has visited me a number of times since learning of his inclusion in the watchlist.  He likes to stay outside the gate.  I tell him in jest, “Bullets can pierce the metal gate.  The holes won’t look good on the façade.  Please stay inside.”  Whenever we walk along dark streets, we joke about a rain of bullets welcoming our arrival.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has ended tokhang,² but will the extrajudicial killings stop?

Blood relatives have told me not to associate with my friend anymore; at the very least, I should only go out with him during the day when extrajudicial killings are not rampant.  Their words fell on deaf ears.

A week or so ago during dinner with his two former tenants (my friend has rooms for rent), I told my friend to collect my body in case I get killed – and he gets to escape – because of the vigilante or extrajudicial killer gunning for him.  He should at the very least tell my folks about the incident so that I can be given proper suprema dona.³  The two tenants laughed about what I said because my delivery was light.  We laughed about other things after that declaration of friendship.

I can sense my family’s fear for my life when I’m with him.  But, we still go out even when night falls.

I believe – and do not believe – in a lot of things.  But, friendships tempered by love transcend beliefs and mortality.

Notes

¹”Tokhang.”  Wiktionary: The free dictionary, 5 Oct. 2017.  Web.  15 Oct. 2017.  <en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=tokhang&oldid=47663584>.

²Emmanuel Tupas.  “PNP Ends Tokhang, Double Barrel.”  Headlines.  The Philippine Star, 13 Oct. 2017.  Web.  15 Oct. 2017.  <www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/10/13/1748255/pnp-ends-tokhang-double-barrel>.

³Latin phrase that means funeral rites.  Suprema as a stand-alone word may mean a number of things like super, superwoman, last, greatest, etc.  Dona as a stand-alone may mean gift, offering, etc.  In short, suprema dona may also mean last gifts.  Remember the importance of context in translation.

Crabs of a Kind

Dr. Elle has not been feeling well.  She massages her chest lightly now and then while seeing patients.  Her face crumples in pain unpredictably, but she carries on, seeing patients as often as she can in the different clinics and hospitals she moonlights in.

On her last day at the clinic (where we both moonlight), she goes straight to the hospital after her duty and dies.  Metastatic breast cancer.

I usually arrive early for my clinical duties such that I often meet the owner before she signs off.  I leave stuff on the table in preparation for my turn to see patients.

During acute attacks, my gait seems normal on the surface because I have learned to move my body through my pain.  Arthritis is the legacy of the aging.  Pain, Heberden’s and Bouchard’s nodes are the yoke of arthritis.  Outgrowths at the end joints of fingers are called Heberden’s nodes, while those on finger joints nearest to the palm are called Bouchard’s nodes.  I have not developed either kind of nodes, but the pain I occasionally feel is just as intense as though I’ve got both.

It is lunch hour, and the female patient sits waiting.  She says she is there just to visit and talk to a health professional, preferably me.  I vaguely remember her face, but she seems to remember me well enough.

My gracious friend, the clinic owner, leaves the patient to me before going home.

The patient tells me she has metastatic breast cancer.  She asks, “Am I going to die?”  The answer is too hauntingly real.

I tell her, “I am certain we all will, as sure as seasons will change.”

She looks at me, wide-eyed, seemingly with a blob of tear forming in both eyes, then she suddenly laughs, an infectious laugh that echoes through the aseptic walls of the clinic.

I hold her hand and smile through her pain.  Health professionals are not immune to the specter of disease and, more importantly, to the gift of affection.  No mortal is.

We discuss things she cares to talk about.  Silence punctuates the air when the talk gets emotional.

She holds my knuckles in a tight squeeze, with a face divided between smiling and crying, before she leaves.  I shall never see her again.

I go back to the doctor’s chair, rummage through the table and open an envelope with a report that contains words like “metastases,” etc.

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The crab is the symbol of cancer, both the zodiac sign and the medical condition.  Some cancer cells penetrate normal tissues with projections that resemble crab’s claws, hence the moniker.

“Cancer” is also a Latin word for crab.