Blog Spam from fellow classicists?

On my recent post on the tattoo, I found an oddly proselytizing "comment" which I have refused to publish. (Comments are moderated to prevent blog spam.)

The comment seemed automatically generated, but if it wasn't it was posted by someone who has no sense of etiquette or no shame. Expounding off-topic upon the benefits of the Latinum podcast and the Schola social networking community, then telling me that "These sites should be enough to help you get on with learning to read, write and if you want to, even learn how to speak Latin" smacks of insult or ignorance.

This blog, as spotty as our record has been in keeping the posts current, has been around far longer than either Latinum or Schola, and I don't need help in getting on with learning Latin, despite what a certain dark moment (since deleted) on Catullus might suggest to long-time readers.

In other news, my job, the school's internet filters, and my mother's battle with cancer all had their hand in keeping me away from the site for much of the past year. I even suggested to Eric at one point that we retire the site, and reserved another site name ("Campus Mortuus: Long Live the Campus." Ha ha.). But my year ends officially on Tuesday, I've got lots of things on my mind, and a mountain of reading to work through. There's bound to be enough material for the summer and beyond.

Latin tattoo (p.s.)

I forgot to add (and I'm forced to post via e-mail thanks to the school's filters) that I think the butterfly that accompanies the Latin phrase adds to the reading "I have been raised well," as a metaphor of it's own.  The cocoon = the tutela of the parents, the woman who has emerged is the butterfly.

Latin tattoo

Rogueclassicism has a post about a Latin tattoo on the back of the "escort" whom Eliot Spitzer had employed, and there are a lot of very bad interpretations, including silly jokes by those laughing at the supposedly bad Latin and punning on her work as a call girl.  (David's reading, at least, was sensible and accurate, unlike those cited in the piece.)

The phrase in question is tutela valui.

Some of the bad ones (inadvertently, I think) approach a decent and amusing reading: it should be "I have been well-kept" (literally "I have been well through guardianship").  This is in keeping with the Roman tutela mulieris.  The less provocative (and more likely) reading would be something like "I was raised well."

But my genuine reaction (again, taking tutela is an ablative of means) was that the phrase -- written by her bikini line -- means "It takes work to maintain a figure like this."  Literally "I have been well through upkeep."  This works through a metaphorical usage, e.g., where tutela refers to maintaining a building.

If that's the case I think it's a pretty cool tattoo, though I've never been one for "body art."