Friday, December 23, 2011
The Direct Method
Christopher Stray, "Postgate, John Percival (1853–1926)," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
Newer› ‹Older
The children included Raymond Postgate, later well known as a journalist and as the author of the Good Food Guide, and Dame Margaret Cole, who married the socialist economic historian G.D.H. Cole. In her memoirs, she remembered the atmosphere of early family life in Cambridge. Postgate's enthusiasm for learning Latin by the direct method (by speaking the language) was evidenced at mealtimes; at one Sunday dinner Margaret asked da mihi bovem ('give me the ox') instead of da mihi bovis ('give me some beef'), and found the whole vast sirloin thrust at her.Thanks to Alan Crease for drawing my attention to this anecdote.
