The man who taught me first-year Latin, taught me first-year Greek three years later. His name was Father Daniel York (formerly Jurkiewicz). I took six years of Latin, two years of Greek, and four years of German - but no language teacher taught me better than Fr. York. One of his best teaching tools was his colorful irreverence. When we were pious first-year seminarians, Fr. York forced us to shout out the Latin word "scit," which means "he knows." In the Italian pronunciation used by the Catholic Church, that's SHIT!!!! And he had us shout it over and over, so it could be heard in all the classrooms down the hall. He had us memorize all sorts of irreverent quotations in Latin and Greek, and generally kept us in stitches while he crammed more language into our heads in a year than a normal teacher could teach in three.

But I have to say that today, I am disappointed in Fr. York, because he didn't teach us about Venus Kalypigos and Glaukopis Athene and Hera Boopis.

Ah, the things I learn at Mudcat....

-Joe Offer-