ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Is Latin a dead language?  One might reasonably ask whether my grandparents are dead.

It's a silly question.  My grandparents passed away many years ago -- two of them before I was even born.  Yet, their genetic material lives on -- in me, my siblings, my cousins, my remaining parents, aunts and uncles.  So, are my grandparents dead or not?

Of course they are. The fact that they left descendants does not alter the fact that they, themselves, are dead.  The fact that dinosaurs left descendants does not alter the fact that they, themselves, are extinct.  The fact that Latin left descendants does not alter the fact that nobody speaks it as their native tongue, nor that its grammar and syntax are therefore fixed.

This is not to denigrate Latin, nor those who learn it and use it.  It is merely to head off wooly sophistry before we start debating what the meaning of "is" is.

Eugene Dillenburg
Exhibit Developer and Resident Curmudgeon
Science Museum of Minnesota

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]