It's wery funny this vay.

I'm going to have to rename this blog "things I look up for Claire during my lunch hour."

Veritas is a latin word meaning truth, and is predictably, rather popular among the motto-writing set. Observe:

• Veritas ("Truth"), the motto of Harvard University
• Lux et veritas ("Light and truth"), the motto of Yale University
• Lux et veritas floreant ("Let light and truth flourish"), the motto of the University of Winnipeg
• Veritas lux mea ("The truth enlightens me"), the motto of Seoul National University
• Veritas liberabit vos ("The truth liberates you"), the motto of Canterbury Christ Church University
• Fortis est veritas ("Truth is strong"), the motto of the town of Oxford, England
• In vino veritas ("In wine, truth"), a phrase meaning that wine loosens the tongue

The amusing thing about veritas, and indeed, all Latin words beginning with v, is that "v" is pronounced like a "w," thus making many Latin phrases a little bit funny. Kind of like the time when the Swiss train ticket agent told me my pass would be "walid" for a year (don't get me wrong, his English was loads better than my German).

And while I think Claire, when thinking of a phrase "In ____ veritas" was just thinking of "In vino veritas" (so true! am I right? who's with me?), you could really go wild with the structure.

• In via veritas. ("In the road, truth")
• In villa veritas. ("In country house, truth" - if you've been to the Hamptons, which I haven't, I imagine you could confirm or deny that)
• In viro veritas. ("In man, truth")
• In vulpa veritas. ("In fox, truth")

See, Latin is fun! I'm sure I'm effing up the declensions and whatnot.