Scatter Brained

C H A P T E R   1
Ad infinitum
 (not to be confused with 
et cetera
): “To infi nity, 
without end.”
Caveat emptor:
 “Let the buyer beware.”
Citius altius fortius:
 “Faster, higher, stronger”—the motto of 
the modern Olympics.
Columbarium
 (see previous page): A collective tomb in ancient 
Rome that was also used as a house for pigeons and doves.
Corpus christi:
 “Th
  e body of Christ.”
Cuius est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos:
 
“Whoever owns the land it is theirs up to the sky and down to 
the depths.” Th
  e state of Kansas used this law in the 1970s to 
argue that airlines could not serve liquor when fl ying  over 
Kansas, a dry state. “Kansas,” Attorney General Vern Miller 
said, “goes all the way up and all the way down.” (If that’s 
true, Kansas can lay claim to, and prohibit drinking in, about 
82,282 square miles of western China.)
Deus ex machina:
 “A god from the machine,” usually refer-
ring to an awkward and contrived resolution to confl ict. Th
 e 
phrase got its start from the plays of Euripides, in which a 
god was lowered down onto the stage via a mechanical crane 
to sort out intractable confl icts and confused plots.
Id est:
 “Th
  at is,” often abbreviated “i.e.”
In media res:
 “In the middle of things.” Stories like 
Paradise 
Lost
 or 
Th
 e Odyssey
 or 
Sweet Valley High
 #17 begin in the 
middle.
Ipso facto:
 “By the very fact,” i.e., “absolutely, regardless of 
circumstances.”
Lupus est homo homini:
  “Man  is  a  wolf  to  man.”  No  one 
knew this better than the Romans.

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S C A T T E R B R A I N E D
Magnum opus:
 Great work
Nolo contendere:
 When you want to enter a plea of “No con-
test” in as fancy a way as possible.
Opus Dei:
 “Th
  e work of God” or “An outsized villain in a 
bestselling novel.”
Quod erat demonstrandum:
 “Th
  at which was to be demon-
strated.” Abbreviated QED, often the end of a mathematical 
proof.
Sic semper tyrannis:
 “Th
  us always to tyrants,” the motto of 
Virginia and the last thing John Wilkes Booth said before 
shooting Abraham Lincoln.
Sic transit gloria:
 “Glory fades,” popularized by Max Fischer, 
founder, Rushmore Double-Team Dodgeball Society.
Sub poena:
  “Under  penalty,”  as  in  “Do  this  or  you’re  in 
 trouble.”
Tabula rasa:
 A “blank slate”—John Locke’s description of 
the human mind without knowledge.
Veni, vidi, vici:
 “I came, I saw, I conquered,” and the most oft-
mispronounced Latin phrase in the world. It should be pro-
nounced, WAY-nee, WEE-dee, WEE-kee.
Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes:
 “And he sent forth his 
spirit among the unknown arts.” A beautiful quote from Ovid 
that we use out of alphabetical order because James Joyce 
used it in 
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,
 and we need 
to move on to him. . . .

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