The future of Latin

I watched a DVD over the weekend, which is a rather rare event these days. My choice was An Education, which came out late last year I think, with a screen-play written by Nick Hornby. The main character Jenny is in her final year of high school, studying hard to get into Oxford. Her weakest subject just happens to Latin, and for her birthday she gets a New Latin Dictionary (in fact two; one from her dad and one from her admirer).

At one point in the film she's disappointed to have received a B for Latin, and one of the other characters comforts her by saying:

Someone told me that in about 50 years, no one will speak Latin, probably. Not even Latin people.

How not to plan a career

Anyway. Here's how not to plan a career: (a) split up with girlfriend; (b) junk college; (c) go to work in record shop; (d) stay in record shops for rest of life. You see those pictures of people in Pompeii and you think, how weird: one quick game of dice after your tea and you're frozen, and that's how people remember you for the next few thousand years.