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Showing posts with label hic sunt leones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hic sunt leones. Show all posts

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Changes at the top

Attentive reader, you no doubt have spotted a small edit at the top of this blog in the space designated for, to use newspaper speak, the "sub-hed". A few years ago I thought the most apt description for this blog was the ancient Roman phrase "Hic sunt leones", which I had interpreted as "from here, be lions".

Over pizza and wine last night, I was informed that this is not 100 percent correct. The Italians translate it to "qui ci sono i leoni" or simply "here be lions". There is more than a subtle difference. My interpretation suggests that just beyond this point, it is not safe to tread. But from where I stand, it's probably OK. Probably. Whereas, the ancient Romans used the expression to say that this whole damn place is unsafe to tread. How unsafe? There's lions, amico. Nuff said.

A special thanks to the always attentive (some might say, "disagreeable") Luca for pointing this out.