newly added to my list of nicknames/aliases:
Germanicus

I do not know how to feel about being named Germanicus. It's sort of nice to be able to walk around wearing a name that makes people wonder if maybe you don't have an ax behind your back to brain your enemies with. Plus, I'm pretty sure that I don't have to share the name "Germanicus" with very many people these days. And frankly, given how inauspiciously my naming ceremony went, I couldn't have asked for a better nickname.

T.A.: You need a Latin name.
Me: Do I?
T.A.: Do you have a favorite Roman?
Me: Um... ... (hopefully) No?
T.A.: (obviously disappointed) How about Germanicus?

A fun game to play if I am around: Yell "ger-MA-nee-kay ad TA-boo-lam" (Germanice ad tabulam) at the top of your lungs and then savor the panic in my eyes as I flail around frantically looking for a piece of chalk with which to write the paradigms for 5th declension nouns and 3rd conjugation verbs.

Really, though, the excitement of such an unusual name wore itself out instantly when I discovered that it's more than a little embarassing to be stopped dead in your tracks for 10 to 15 seconds everytime you have to decline your own name. This led me to a corollary revelation: there's a reason that people don't speak Latin anymore- it's incredibly annoying.

Discussion point for the week:
There had been some talk going around Latin about putting together a trivia team to compete on Sundays at a local bar. I offered in jest to take on the role of "the albatross around the neck of the Latin trivia team." I was promptly greeted with 3-5 gestures involving a hand being waved over a head, indicating that my reference had just gone over the heads of the group I was talking with. There even seemed to be a sense that this kind of showing-off was not really appreciated by my company.

Is the Rime of the Ancient Mariner too literary and bookish a reference for the modern audience? Discuss.