Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Latin and the Recession

Nuntii Latini reports this week on the weakening economy in their story Recessio in USA Gravescit ("The Recession in the USA is Worsening.")

Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting this week "Bankers to Learn What 'Malus' Is." That is to say, some financial institutions are changing their policies so that when fund managers make bad decisions, they will no longer get a bonus. In fact, they will lose money!

In Latin, bonus is, of course, an adjective meaning good, whereas malus is the opposite, an adjective meaning bad.