It's one thing for an ignorant man-child playing renegade soldier like Keith Novak to try to make himself look smart by styling his little club the 44th Spatha Libertas, though it pains me to see the Latin language co-opted for such a "cause" ("Militia leader said NSA site was target," Dec. 17). It's another thing for the Star Tribune to validate Novak's co-option by uncritically reporting that Spatha Libertas means "Sword of Freedom." It doesn't. Even my first-year Latin students would recognize such lazy grammar, and would know that to say "Sword of Freedom" we need the genitive case, not the nominative. I'd correct it for Novak, but I do not want to encourage him.
Letter of the Day (Dec. 19): Militia leader
Allow me to point out a flaw beyond the thinking of Spatha Libertas itself.
December 19, 2013 at 12:17AM
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It’s too soon to tell how much the immigration crackdown is to blame.
