Economist, Apr 9, 2022

choi

(1) letter to editor: Regarding Britain's dismal chilly weather and Roman bathhouses that tried to make Roman Britain bearable ("Life in a cold climate," March 19th). I recall from my schooldays a Latin textbook with a cover picture of a Roman legionnaire with the title, "O me miserum." It didn't take a Latin scholar to work that one out. DAVID ROSSINGTON[,] Lincoln

Note:
(a) Latin-English dictionary:
* As vocative particle, English O came from Ancient Greek, through Latin and then Old English. See O
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/O
(under English, Etymology 2)
   ^ The vocative is a grammatical case (in Latin that Modern English does not have). See grammatical case
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_case
   (section 2 Etymology: The English word case came from Latin casus (that is all you need to know); section 3 Indo-European languages (check the table for "evocative," section 3.1 Modern Modern English)
   ^ Latin noun masculine casus fall.
   ("The grammatical sense, 'one of the forms which make up the inflections of a noun' (late 14c.) * * * 'A noun in the nominative singular ..., or a verb in the present indicative [which is the dictionary form: In English, the verb love is an item in a dictionary, not loving or loved] ..., is conceived as standing straight. Then it falls, or is bent, or declines into various positions' [Gilbert Murray, 'Greek Studies']." (brackets original). The subject of "is" is "A noun in the nominative singular or a verb in the present indicative." The grammatical case in Latin came from that of Ancient Greek.
   ^ English noun case meaning a box is ultimately from Latin noun feminine capsa box.
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capsa
* Modern English me came from Old English of the same spelling, "from an Indo-European root shared by Latin me, Greek (e)me, and Sanskrit mā." (It means, the (unknown) Indo-European root gave rise to words of similar spellings in Modern English, Latin and Sanskrit.)
https://www.lexico.com/definition/me
   ^ The nominative case in Latin (called subjective pronoun in Modern English) for I (Modern English) is "ego."
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ego
   (table shows "me" is accusative case (direct object in Modern English: In sentences He gives me an apple or He gives an apple to me, me is direct object and apple, indirect object (which in Latin would be dative case; grammatical case is important in Latin because it did not rely on preposition such as to, but later Latin did use to). The table also shows that me is definitely NOT evocative case.)
* miserum: "3: accusative neuter singular of miser [adjective masculine meaning miserable]
                  4: vocative neuter singular of miser"  (But from the preceding entry, moserum can not be evocative case in O me miserum. See next.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miserum
(b) Difference between Vocative and Accusative usage. StackExchange, answered on June 12, 2016 (under the heading "Latin language")
https://latin.stackexchange.com/ ... nd-accusative-usage
(c) Latin grammar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_grammar   
("Latin word order tends to be subject–object–verb [same as Japanese and Korean]; however, other word orders are common. Different word orders are used to express different shades of emphasis. (See Latin word order.)")
(d) Lincoln, England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln,_England  
(county town [American English: county seat] of Lincolnshire, England")

Boston, Massachusetts was named after Boston, Lincolnshire.
(e) London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London   
(section 4 Geography, section 4.4 Climate: chart/ "Heavy snow is rare but snow usually falls at least once each winter")

choi

(2) Farming | Fields of Gold; Why an agricultura; Boom does not help rural America.
https://www.economist.com/united ... -help-rural-america

paragraph 3: "On the plains of North Dakota and Montana [on western border of N Dakota], as across the border in Saskatchewan in Canada, the biggest crop is spring wheat, which is planted in April and harvested in late summer. Planting m farms in Montana has begun already; Mr Volk will start soon. Thanks to the war in Ukraine [Ukraine and Russia are large producers and exporters of wheat], wheat prices are the highest they have been since 2008. * * * But they have to adjust for much higher input prices, too, particularly for fertiliser and fuel [a;so thanks to the war].

paragraph 5: "American farmers are making good money. * * *The price of farmland, an indicator of the profitability of farming, is the highest it has ever seen. Farmland in Iowa, America's most agricultural state, has sold for over $20,000 an acre.

paragraph 6: "Yet despite all this cash, rural America is in deep decline. According to the 2020 census, two-thirds of rural counties lost population from 2010 to 2020, and the total population of rural America fell for the first time in history. * * *

paragraph 7: "As farming becomes more profitable, so do the gains from mechanization. Today, just 6% of jobs in rural areas are directly linked to farming, points out Anne Schechinger, an agricultural economist for the Environmental Working group, a research NGO, Most farms, even small ones 'are highly capitalised agribusiness growing one or two commodity crops and employing very few people,' she says, Nr Volk says his farm is as small as can be competitively run, to cover the costs of the hardware. Over the decades, it has gradually grown bigger as neighbours have retired and split their land up among heirs -- many of whom end up selling their bit to Mr Volk.

paragraph 9: "Even if farmers are getting wealthier, the communities they live in are not. Mr Volk says that when he went to school, there were 40 children on his school bus. Today his youngest son goes on the bus with fewer than ten classmates. * * * Many young people end up moving to places where job opportunities are more exciting , if not necessarily moe profitable. Over half of the churches that used to serve the communities have closed. * * *

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest, which is insubstantial.
(b) wheat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat
("The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum; the most widely grown is common wheat (T aestivum). The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. Botanically, the wheat kernel is a type of fruit called a caryopsis [p is pronounced]. * * * [section] 6 Naming: * * * Within a species, wheat cultivars are further classified by wheat breeders and farmers in terms of:
• Growing season, such as winter wheat vs. spring wheat")
(c) Gary Vocke and Mir Ali, US Wheat Production Practices, Costs, and Yields: Variations Across Regions. Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, 2013 (Economic Information Bulletin No 116)
https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs ... 83/39923_eib116.pdf
(page 5: "Winter Versus Spring Wheat[:] Wheat varieties grown in the United States are classified as 'winter wheat' or 'spring wheat,' depending on the season in which they are planted. Wintertime temperature lows are a key determinant of whether winter or spring wheat is grown in a particular location. Winter wheat varieties are sown in the fall and usually become established before going into dormancy when winter cold arrives. The following spring, winter wheat plants resume growth until summertime harvest (fig 4 [showing Kansas is the largest winter  wheat producer]). Winter wheat represents 70-80 percent of total US wheat production. Winter wheat has a higher yield potential than spring because of its longer growing season. Spring wheat is planted in the spring and harvested in late summer or fall of the same year (fig 5 [showing North Dakota is the largest sprng wheat producer]). It is grown largely in the Northern Plains, where cold wintertime temperatures would kill winter wheat in dormancy")

choi

(3) Surrogacy | Battlegrounds of the Baby Business; America's childmaking market is a legal and ethical minefield.
https://www.economist.com/united ... d-ethical-minefield
https://www.thewingsofwisdom.com ... -ethical-minefield/

Note:
(a) "Three of the six states that once prohibited the business have legalized it: New Jersey in 2018, Washington in 2019 and New York in 2021."  

The three states are Michigan, Nebraska and Louisiana.
(b) "Unlike the business of buying sperm, it [surrogacy] depends on the use of assisted reproductive technology, which is federally regulated."

Oversight of Assisted Reproductive Technology. American Society for Reproductive Medicine, published in 2010 and updated in 2021
https://www.asrm.org/globalasset ... s/oversiteofart.pdf
("On the federal level, three agencies regulate ART. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects and publishes data on ART procedures. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) controls approval and use of drugs, biological products, and medical devices and has jurisdiction over screening and testing of reproductive tissues, such as donor eggs and sperm. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for implementation of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act to ensure the quality of laboratory testing. Additionally, the medical profession exercises significant self-regulation to assure the continuing competence of practicing physicians. Specialists in reproductive medicine are certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology [for women with infertility issues] or the American Board of Urology [for men with infertility issues] ")


(4) Obituary Mario Terán | Man and Myth; Mario Terán Sakazar, the Bolivian soldier who killed che guevara, died on March 19th, aged 80.
https://www.economist.com/obitua ... -to-kill-che-guevar

paragraph 3: "The fight had been fierce. Terán, a 26-year-old non-commissioned officer in Company A, saw two good friends killed in front of him But Che had lost more, and was wounded and his carbine barrel shattered, so he surrendered. He looked almost ordinary then, like some tramp, unkempt and rasping with asthma in a filthy uniform, But when he was given some tobacco for his pipe, and [subject is 'he'] cheekily asked whether anyone had any Astoria [cigarette he carried in his pockets], the old charm came out again.

paragraph 4: "To the man who had to kill him, the task was dreadful. He needed a stiff drink, but could find only beer, sp he shouldered his M2 automatic and struggled on with slopping bottle in each hand. He had tried to find a better rifle, too, but had no luck. No luck with anything that day.

paragraph 5: "Why he had been picked remained a mystery. * * *

paragraph 6: "* * * Almost all the rest of his existence was spent in hiding and denial. * * *

Noe: slop (vi)
https://www.lexico.com/definition/slop