Quotidian

I love Latin. Quotidian means 'daily': as in panem nostrum quotidianum - 'our daily bread'.

But I thought of the word when my mind, half-asleep, decided to transform 'quote of the day' into 'daily quote' and hence into 'quotidian quote' - or 'quotidiom' or something odd like that.

That done, here is the quote of the day: "I prefer a more natural height."

"What?" you roar in disgust. "That's a quote of the day??"

Well, context is all. It seemed extremely funny when it happened. It was an appalling (and hopefully unintended) quip on the part of our Guest-of-Honour at today's conference. Sigh. I have to think about this. Knowing him, it was intended. Alumni do tend to make jokes like this about and at each other, and we don't take harm or offence from such jokes, because that's the way we've grown up. It takes a man to laugh at himself (and a few others to join him).

It puts me in mind of many other such jokes perpetrated (in deed, indeed) and delivered (from the pulpit or rostrum) by alumni against non-alumni. Like the one about "Why is a taxi-driver like the CEO of an educational institution?" You know it already? Good. I shan't elaborate, then.