As the culprit who started us on our search of our high school Latin books,
I plead mea culpa. I thought I was saying, "so many men, so many opinions"
to capture the notion that folks who have been involved in change efforts
could reasonably reach different conclusions about which were the most
important factors influencing change efforts.
In response to the alternate interpretations, I consulted Webster's New
Universal Unabridged Dictionary. It sides with those who interpet "quot
homines tot sententiae" as "many men, many minds." (Mrs. Morrison, my high
school Latin teacher would be so ashamed). In the future, when I use a
foreign phrase, I will be sure to give "my" intended meaning in English as
well.
Regards to all the Latin scholars.
Kim
At 05:23 PM 4/20/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Earlier, I wrote that Kim Boal's email signature line exceeded my meagre
>grasp of Latin and forced me to a reference book where I learned that it
>means "So many men, so many minds."
>
>Alastair Gunn later commented...
>
> >I think what Fred translates as "minds" shoukld be "opinions"
>
>Actually, I didn't translate it; I looked it up in Charles Berlitz'
>Dictionary of Foreign Terms, 2nd Ed (1975).
>Included there is this comment...
>
> "The form used by Terence, quot homines tot sententiae, is preferred.
>
>Having already confessed to a modest -- nay, a meagre grasp of Latin --
>could someone "in the know" please check with this Terence fellow to see
>if my reference book is correct? :-)
>
>Regards,
>
>Fred Nickols
>Distance Consulting
>http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
>
nickols@worldnet.att.net
>(609) 490-0095
>
--------------------------------
Kim Boal
College of Business Administration
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409
(806) 742-2150
KimBoal@ttu.edu