Which Way to the Vomitorium?: Vernacular Latin for All Occasions [Hardcover]

Lesley O'Mara (Editor), Rose Williams (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1999

Tired of feeling like "The Ugly American" every time you visit the Vatican? Fed up with having to consult a dictionary when all you want to say is, "I've just been run over by a chariot!"? Well, now you can prepare yourself for almost every papal problem and haphazard happenstance with Which Way to the Vomitorium?: Vernacular Latin for All Occasions.

Enhance your small talk at dinner parties with such gems as "Esne ebrius iterum?" (Are you drunk again?) and "Suntne illi glires novi?" (Are these dormice fresh?). Relive the tedium of traveling by introducing your children to Latin with "Paene adventimus?" (Are we nearly there yet?).

With over 450 phrases and a recipe for "liquamen," Which Way to the Vomitorium? will have you leading that ancient Roman lifestyle in no time, teaching you everything you need to know if you want to properly pontificate with the Pontiff or survive in the Old World neighborhoods of Pompeii.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation)
Original Language: Latin

About the Author

Lesley O'Mara is the editor of the bestselling British anthologies Greatest Cat Stories, Favourite Cat Stories, and Best Cat Stories. She lives in London.

Rose Williams has been a scholar of Latin since her college days. She has taught Latin at both the high school and university level, and is a true devotee and scholar of the language. She lives in Texas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 122 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (October 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031224276X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312242763
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,420,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Buy for the Latin Teacher, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Which Way to the Vomitorium?: Vernacular Latin for All Occasions (Hardcover)

This is a great compilation of Latin adages, some authentic, some invented. Although its practical value is questionable, it is worth its weight in gold to the high school Latin teacher. It lends itself to providing comic, tragic, dirty, and sometimes down-right rotten humor.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ckock full of good fun!, July 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Which Way to the Vomitorium?: Vernacular Latin for All Occasions (Hardcover)

This book pokes delightfull fun at phrasebooks, latin, and Roman history and culture. It is chock full of in jokes and is one of the few written texts that has me laughing aloud in the middle of the cafeteria.

20 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Paucity of Information, October 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Which Way to the Vomitorium?: Vernacular Latin for All Occasions (Hardcover)

I would not recommend "Which Way to the Vomitorium?" to anyone who is even remotely serious about the study of Latin. It contains too few phrases, and all of them are built with words found in any decent Latin dictionary. Do not be fooled by the subtitle "Vernacular Latin for any Occasion" into thinking that this book will give you any insight into what was common, spoken latin. If you are a teacher, you probably know just as many, if not more, off color sayings to interest your students than are in this book. And if you are a student, trust me, not one phrase in this book contains any word your Latin teacher would refuse to teach you!