English Prose

I’ve been recently fascinated by how much Latin phrases add to the ideas one communicates. Much like serifs in a typeface, they add a distinctive feel to the language.

Here’s a list of some I found and have been trying to incorporate into my vernacular:

Latin English Meaning Sentence Comment
Ad hoc For a specific purpose or situation an ad hoc committee was formed  
Ad infinitum To infinity, endlessly the debate continued ad infinitum  
Bona fide In good faith, genuine she made a bona fide offer  
Carpe diem Seize the day he lived by the motto carpe diem most people mistaken it to be french, including myself
De facto In fact, in reality he was the de facto leader  
De jure By law de jure segregation was abolished, but de facto segregation persisted  
Exempli gratia (e.g.) For example e.g., “many fruits are rich in vitamins, e.g., oranges and strawberries”) yes, that’s what it stands for
Et alii (et al.) And others, typically used in citations Vaswani et al. (2021) decided the future  
Et cetera (etc.) And other things you should be patient, thoughtful, hungry etc. kudos to the people who understood the reference
Id est (i.e.) That is, in other words he prefers citrus fruits, i.e., oranges and lemons  
Ipso facto By that very fact breaking the contract, ipso facto, voids the agreement  
Modus operandi (M.O.) Way of operating the thief had a distinct modus operandi  
Nolo contendere No contest, a legal plea he pleaded nolo contendere in court  
Non sequitur It does not follow, an illogical conclusion his argument was a complete non sequitur  
Per se By itself, intrinsically the rule isn’t unfair per se, but it is often misapplied  
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc After this, therefore because of this examples logical fallacy, two is followed by one, but one doesn’t necessarily cause two
Pro bono For the public good, free of charge the lawyer took the case pro bono  
Quid pro quo This for that, an exchange they agreed to a quid pro quo arrangement  
Sic Thus, used in quotations to indicate an error in the original text he wrote ‘their [sic] going to the store’  
Status quo The existing state of affairs the policy was designed to maintain the status quo  
Tabula rasa Blank slate the new leader approached the situation as a tabula rasa  
Vox populi The voice of the people the media reflected the vox populi