Reasons given for the study of Latin over the year have ranged from "better understanding of English" to "looks good on a resume," but a new reason, according to Globe and Mail arts columnist Warren Clements, might be "to keep up with all the amusing Latin books that have been pouring forth for the past 60 years."

From the article:

Consider 1988's The Latin Riddle Book, by Louis Phillips and Stan Shechter, which claimed to be "ideal for those whose Latin may be a little rusty, for teachers who want to bring life to the classroom, or for scholars who want to brush up their Latin language skills." Question: "Cur gallina per viam transire maluit?" Answer: "Ut in altera parte viae ambularet." (Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.) The 1951 book Liberated Latin yoked real Latin phrases to farcical translations, such that "vice versa" became "bawdy jingles." One of them surfaced last week in The Globe's letters column. "Sic transit gloria mundi [So passes away the glory of the world]: Gloria always gets carsick the first of the week."