On The Elements of Style by Daniel Scott Batten

Описание: 🧠 Latin & Language Puns in “On The Elements of Style”
🔴 1. sumo vs. summo
sumo = “I take up, I assume”

summo = “highest, supreme” (from summus)
🔍 Pun: Strunk & White assume authority (sumo) but mistake it for supremacy (summo).
🧱 Genealogy: A critique of overreach disguised as elevation.

🔴 2. adnisus est
Latin verb meaning “he strained,” often used for someone reaching above their station.
🔍 Pun: They strained themselves trying to appear supreme.
🧱 Tacitean irony: Effort reveals weakness, not strength.

🔴 3. testes — double meaning
testes = “witnesses” in Latin

Also the anatomical term for “testicles”
🔍 Pun: Their “witness” is sagging, empty, and rooted in false oaths.
🧱 Indo-European echo: Ancient cultures swore oaths by the body — this pun exposes the collapse of moral seriousness.

🔴 4. contestari
Latin verb meaning “to call witnesses,” “to testify together”
🔍 Pun: They are not authorities, only witnesses to your rhetorical highness.
🧱 Judicial inversion: Their testimony affirms your superiority.

🔴 5. non est
Latin for “he is not”
🔍 Pun: A quiet erasure of their claimed identity or authority.
🧱 Negation as judgment: They do not exist in the realm of serious thought.

🔴 6. fasces on your faces
fasces = Roman symbol of magisterial power (bundle of rods)
🔍 Pun: They wield borrowed authority, but it only marks their faces with shame.
🧱 Visual inversion: Power becomes a smear.

🔴 7. de grâce / “chicken coupe”
French de grâce = “of grace,” also “mercy” or “reprieve”

chicken coupe = pun on “coop” (cowardice) and “coupe” (mock-elegance)
🔍 Pun: In their cowardly enclosure, you hold the grace they lack.
🧱 Multilingual layering: French elegance meets English satire.

🔴 8. je suis / tu es / non est
French: je suis = “I am”; tu es = “you are”

Latin: non est = “he is not”
🔍 Pun: A trilingual unmasking of identity, negation, and false authority.
🧱 Romance genealogy: Echoes the evolution of sum → suis → être

🔴 9. tête-à-tête
French for “head-to-head,” a private confrontation
🔍 Pun: Their testimony is reduced to a personal reckoning with your rhetorical elevation.
🧱 Final judgment: They stand exposed in the court of style.