____________________________________________________________________
Using a Latin signoff motto has become a fad because it gives a writer an air of learning. Lucy Kellaway, a columnist for Financial Times, experimented with converting modern expressions to Latin. One of her samples was the expression, ''call a spade a spade''. The translation came back: ''nomina rutrum rutrum''.
Some who see the world in black and white have copied and adopted this Latinized signoff as their own. Whenever you see someone using this expression to suggest an air of learning, remember that it was conceived as a joke, and that its true translation is: ''call a shovel a shovel''.
Rodan. ______________________________________________________________