Dan Conway
@magisterconway.bsky.social
Latin/French/IB/reluctant AP teacher. Sometimes tweets in Latin. Vergil fanboy. he/him
Reposted by Dan Conway
Mr. Rogers:
"You know, your own imagination is far more wonderful than any computer could ever be. You know why? You're a living human being, and a computer is just a machine. Human beings are far more wonderful than machines."
"You know, your own imagination is far more wonderful than any computer could ever be. You know why? You're a living human being, and a computer is just a machine. Human beings are far more wonderful than machines."
yeah...but we'll always have the words from man himself
December 3, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Mr. Rogers:
"You know, your own imagination is far more wonderful than any computer could ever be. You know why? You're a living human being, and a computer is just a machine. Human beings are far more wonderful than machines."
"You know, your own imagination is far more wonderful than any computer could ever be. You know why? You're a living human being, and a computer is just a machine. Human beings are far more wonderful than machines."
As a POOL–PULL merger guy, I found the fact that WOOL rhymes with PULL and not POOL to be a whole other layer of bizarre
For whatever reason, I've for a long time pronounced TROUGH to rhyme with TOUGH and ROUGH, and only in the last few years have I discovered that by all accounts it should rhyme with COUGH and DOFF. At some point I'm going to have to try and rewire my brain to correct this
December 3, 2025 at 11:02 PM
As a POOL–PULL merger guy, I found the fact that WOOL rhymes with PULL and not POOL to be a whole other layer of bizarre
All this Dido content on the AP syllabus but no wounded deer simile??? Unconscionable
December 3, 2025 at 9:58 PM
All this Dido content on the AP syllabus but no wounded deer simile??? Unconscionable
Omg this contest gets more bananas the more you learn about it
It’s for writing commentaries
Of obscure Victorian prizewinning compositions
By obscure rich 20-year-old men
For a prize of TEN THOUSAND POUNDS
With a minimum length of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND WORDS
Due in EIGHT MONTHS
It’s for writing commentaries
Of obscure Victorian prizewinning compositions
By obscure rich 20-year-old men
For a prize of TEN THOUSAND POUNDS
With a minimum length of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND WORDS
Due in EIGHT MONTHS
No subjectivity in text editing or commentaries! And now you can be rewarded for objective elegance.
December 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Omg this contest gets more bananas the more you learn about it
It’s for writing commentaries
Of obscure Victorian prizewinning compositions
By obscure rich 20-year-old men
For a prize of TEN THOUSAND POUNDS
With a minimum length of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND WORDS
Due in EIGHT MONTHS
It’s for writing commentaries
Of obscure Victorian prizewinning compositions
By obscure rich 20-year-old men
For a prize of TEN THOUSAND POUNDS
With a minimum length of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND WORDS
Due in EIGHT MONTHS
Reposted by Dan Conway
Hairy cats are the likely derivation of the English word 'caterpillar' – coming from Old Norman *catepelose, itself from Latin catta 'cat' and pilōsa 'hairy'.
Meanwhile, it was little dogs that were the inspiration for the Modern French equivalent word for the bug (chenille).
Meanwhile, it was little dogs that were the inspiration for the Modern French equivalent word for the bug (chenille).
December 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Hairy cats are the likely derivation of the English word 'caterpillar' – coming from Old Norman *catepelose, itself from Latin catta 'cat' and pilōsa 'hairy'.
Meanwhile, it was little dogs that were the inspiration for the Modern French equivalent word for the bug (chenille).
Meanwhile, it was little dogs that were the inspiration for the Modern French equivalent word for the bug (chenille).
Reposted by Dan Conway
If you're looking to NOT buy something today, might I recommend instead downloading free PDFs from Pixelia Publishing? Open-Access editions of several Latin (and English) texts. Most recent edition is the Latin poetry of Elizabeth Jane Weston: pixeliapublishing.org
Pixelia Publishing
Open Access Educational Texts
pixeliapublishing.org
December 1, 2025 at 8:36 PM
If you're looking to NOT buy something today, might I recommend instead downloading free PDFs from Pixelia Publishing? Open-Access editions of several Latin (and English) texts. Most recent edition is the Latin poetry of Elizabeth Jane Weston: pixeliapublishing.org
When there's a chance of a snow delay or cancellation, I consult the Sortes Vergilianae with my students. This is a thread of the oracular predictions
If you want to do your own, you can make a copy of this doc
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
If you want to do your own, you can make a copy of this doc
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Sortes Vergilianae
docs.google.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
When there's a chance of a snow delay or cancellation, I consult the Sortes Vergilianae with my students. This is a thread of the oracular predictions
If you want to do your own, you can make a copy of this doc
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
If you want to do your own, you can make a copy of this doc
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
I can’t let Mommsen’s birthday pass without sharing Mark Twain’s encounter with him
November 30, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I can’t let Mommsen’s birthday pass without sharing Mark Twain’s encounter with him
Reposted by Dan Conway
I'm not on here much, but I am so excited to share the cover of my forthcoming Catullus translation, featuring an amazing painting by Eduardo Mata Icasa (called "Nature of Emptiness"). As soon as I saw the painting, I knew no other work of art could more perfectly capture how I think about Catullus.
November 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I'm not on here much, but I am so excited to share the cover of my forthcoming Catullus translation, featuring an amazing painting by Eduardo Mata Icasa (called "Nature of Emptiness"). As soon as I saw the painting, I knew no other work of art could more perfectly capture how I think about Catullus.
Yes! Like how in the Talmud Vespasian was only wearing one shoe when he was told he would be emperor, and when he tried to get the other on, he found his feet had swollen up. But then a rabbi quoted Proverbs at him and got his feet to shrink back down.
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
November 26, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Yes! Like how in the Talmud Vespasian was only wearing one shoe when he was told he would be emperor, and when he tried to get the other on, he found his feet had swollen up. But then a rabbi quoted Proverbs at him and got his feet to shrink back down.
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
More believable than some of Suetonius tbh
AP Latin people: "The Course and Exam Description is crystal clear: if something is not mentioned explicitly in there, it won't be on the test."
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
November 17, 2025 at 3:12 PM
AP Latin people: "The Course and Exam Description is crystal clear: if something is not mentioned explicitly in there, it won't be on the test."
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
Me: "OK, so these things aren't mentioned in the CED. I assume they won't be on the test then?"
AP Latin people: "Oh no those could be on it"
Reading parts of Aeneid 7–12 for the first time. We'll see if nobody ever reads these books because the canon is a self-replicating cycle in which teachers, out of familiarity, teach the passages they learned themselves, or if nobody reads them because they're not very good
November 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reading parts of Aeneid 7–12 for the first time. We'll see if nobody ever reads these books because the canon is a self-replicating cycle in which teachers, out of familiarity, teach the passages they learned themselves, or if nobody reads them because they're not very good
AP Latin non sponte sequor
November 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
AP Latin non sponte sequor
Would you call something that occurs 40% of the time "fairly rare"? Asking for reasons that are totally not just more kvetching about AP Latin
November 10, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Would you call something that occurs 40% of the time "fairly rare"? Asking for reasons that are totally not just more kvetching about AP Latin
AP Latin: "Our unseen passages are drawn from underrepresented and nonclassical authors! Isn't that cool?"
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
November 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
AP Latin: "Our unseen passages are drawn from underrepresented and nonclassical authors! Isn't that cool?"
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
Also AP Latin: *doesn't give the authors for the unseen passages, so all students see is just Latin words floating in the ether*
Reposted by Dan Conway
Laura Jenkinson-Brown’s "You are Odysseus"...sets out with a remarkable twist on how we engage with his story: what if we can intervene in some of his decisions? What if we can be author of a part of his tale?
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
Make Better Choices: You ARE Odysseus
Many of us read the Odyssey for the first time because it is part of a certain kind of cultural inheritance in the literary canon. But we remain engaged with it, I think, because the character’s fl…
sententiaeantiquae.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Laura Jenkinson-Brown’s "You are Odysseus"...sets out with a remarkable twist on how we engage with his story: what if we can intervene in some of his decisions? What if we can be author of a part of his tale?
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/11/09/m...
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
November 6, 2025 at 8:46 PM
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
Same vibes
November 6, 2025 at 1:24 AM
The AP Latin teachers Facebook group is constantly complaining about how boring Pliny is. And I’m like, “You all read Caesar for years, and you’re calling PLINY boring???”
November 5, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The AP Latin teachers Facebook group is constantly complaining about how boring Pliny is. And I’m like, “You all read Caesar for years, and you’re calling PLINY boring???”
Reposted by Dan Conway
The book I have been waiting for! So many congrats to the amazing Kim Bowes on the publication day of _ Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent_ ⚒️💜 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
November 4, 2025 at 11:36 PM
The book I have been waiting for! So many congrats to the amazing Kim Bowes on the publication day of _ Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent_ ⚒️💜 press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Mildly interesting: the French word “chalumeau” (blowtorch) isn’t related to “chaleur” or the other heat-related words, it comes from “calamus” (reed)
November 3, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Mildly interesting: the French word “chalumeau” (blowtorch) isn’t related to “chaleur” or the other heat-related words, it comes from “calamus” (reed)
Yesterday I sat through some PD about using AI to simplify texts. I tried it out and the results were... not fantastic
October 31, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Yesterday I sat through some PD about using AI to simplify texts. I tried it out and the results were... not fantastic
Normally I'm not a guy who insists on pedantic plurals for loanwords, but basing the English plural of "axolotl" on its Nahuatl plural "axolomeh" is really cool and I'm going to start doing it. Especially because I'm seeing a lot of axolomeh in kids' stuff recently, I think it's a trend
October 31, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Normally I'm not a guy who insists on pedantic plurals for loanwords, but basing the English plural of "axolotl" on its Nahuatl plural "axolomeh" is really cool and I'm going to start doing it. Especially because I'm seeing a lot of axolomeh in kids' stuff recently, I think it's a trend
Update: I’ve learned that the new syllabus doesn’t get into this level of detail, so all this hair-splitting is totally needless
The AP Latin Facebook group is like 70% anxious posts asking which use of the subjunctive Pliny is using, and I don’t enjoy it tbh
October 22, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Update: I’ve learned that the new syllabus doesn’t get into this level of detail, so all this hair-splitting is totally needless