You’d probably be surprised by how much Latin you actually already know. Hundreds of words—like memo, alibi, agenda, census, veto, alias, via, alumni, affidavit and versus—are all used in everyday English, as are abbreviations like i.e. (id est, "that is") and etc. (et cetera, "and the rest"). Even some entire Latin phrases have become so naturalized in English that we use them, in full, without a second thought—like bona fide (literally "in good faith"), alter ego ("other self"), persona non grata ("unwelcome person"), vice versa ("position turned"), carpe diem ("seize the day"), cum laude ("with praise"), alma mater ("nourishing mother"), and quid pro quo ("something for something," "this for that").
Besides fairly commonplace examples like these, however, English has adopted a number of much less familiar Latin phrases and expressions that go criminally underused—20 examples of which are listed here. So next time you spot a misbehaving child, or you want to seize the night rather than the day, you’ll have the perfect phrase at hand.
Click for Full Text!