The Low Churchman’s Guide to the Solemn High Mass seems to be a satirical blog site, quite amusing at times. A new posting has appeared on the Latin language, said to have been
first spoken in the late ninth century A.D. in the Palatinate Forest region of southwestern Germany, after which the language is named.
Ahum! Had I claimed such a thing, my prep school master would probably have told me to stand in the hall – and wait for his wrath armed with his favourite slipper! Between the ink blots in our copy books, we enjoyed writing lines of “dog Latin” like – Caesar ad sum jam forte in fortibus es in ero. Translation: “Caesar had some jam for tea in forty buses in a row”.
Well, some of our old cane-wielding moustache-sporting gown-toting Whacko schoolmasters in old Imperial Britain taught Latin to generations of boys – and were probably low-church to boot!
It seems that Whacko’s cane needs to be rehabilitated… All the same, the Low Churchman’s Guide is amusing and provides a welcome break from some of the moroseness one finds in the blogosphere these days.
The Blue Flower 
I remember ‘Whacko!”- with Jimmy Edwards – great fun! It was written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden and I loved hearing re-broadcasts of their wonderful 1960s “My Word!” and “My Music” radio series when they replayed on our ABC, in the late 70s and early 1980s if my memory serves me correctly. A programme called “Frank Muir Goes into the Church” was simply marvellous! Little gems like “Notices at Sunday service: ‘The readers for the next two Sundays will be found hung up in the foyer’ “(!); or “A man goes up to heaven – St Peter shows him around, pointing out where everyone is: ‘Over there you have the Presbyterians, there the Anabaptists, there the Anglicans, further over you’ve got the Jews, Jevohah’s witnesses…'(etc); the man points to a large 10’ wall, and asks ‘what’s that?’ St Peter lowers his voice and says: ‘Sshh!, keep your voice down…behind that wall are the Catholics and they think they’re the only ones up here!’ ” (much laughter, of course). Many more. Brilliant stuff in their inimitable style! Thanks for the memories, Father.