From: Bob Kiss (bobkiss@caribsurf.com)
Date: 03/07/02-06:34:01 AM Z
DEAR LIST,
Four years of high school Latin left quite a dent but not enough to
remind me of this particular form so I asked one of our Island Nation's few
Latin scholars and obtained the following:
1) The correct form is "De gustibus non disputandum est"...yes the "est" is
necessary.
2) The verbs are in the form of the gerundive which he defines as "an
adjective in the passive voice". As an adjective, it agrees in gender and
number, with the noun it is modifying, hence disputand"um", singular,
neuter, for "de gustibus".
2) The "est" is necessary to make the phrase a sentence in the form,
{subject} "must or must not be" {gerundive}. So literally, "Regarding
taste, it must not be argued" which is rather poor English so, "There is no
arguing taste" sure sounds better and keeps the spirit of the original.
Now, don't Y'all feel better?
CHEERS!
BOB
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