I thought I had some strange teachers in my time, but none as strange as this Manchester teacher who told her students that
a meteor was going to hit the earth in a week and they were all going to die. Her point: to motivate them to 'seize the day'. The logic seems to be 'make them think they're going to die so they appreciate what they have.' Kind of like that guy who tried to
save his marriage by electrifying his wife in the bathtub.
On a completely unrelated note, the widespread use of the phrase
seize the day (from the latin
carpe diem) is a pet peeve of mine, since I think it's mistranslated. The latin word
carpe is principally an agricultural term meaning to harvest, pluck, or gather. It only secondarily has a military usage. So the phrase should really be translated as
harvest the day, which is a lot more laid back than
seize the day. Though maybe my real problem with the term are those people who are always lecturing other people to seize the day.
Comments
A drama teacher told her class that a foreign power had just launched a nuclear strike against the country. The kids freaked.
capio, cepi, captum: to take in hand, take hold of, lay hold of, take, seize, grasp.
But we do get the english word 'to carp' from carpo, carpsi, carptum, which is the root of carpe.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
In Flanders fields
The poppies grow;
Between the crosses,
Row on row.
I'm a hunter, so I "seize" what I want. I don't slowly pick it, or harvest it if you will.
Dale is wrong. The nickname "coppers...cops" originated in reference to the police stars or badges police officers donned in the early 1900's. They were made of Copper, hence they were called Coppers and later, Cops.