Looks as if Nikki Haley isn’t all that thrilled with her ex-boss, President Donald Trump. As it turns out, The Donald made reference of the rabid Never-Trumpers by using the word “vermin.”
For whatever bizarre reason, the word “vermin” is now verboten because certain Nazis used that same word.
I’ll readily admit that I don’t know every single word ever uttered by Hitler, Goebbels, Hess, etc., but I’m fairly sure that they’ve also used the words “cow”, “swine”, and “herd” at least once or twice. I just can’t help but wonder if those words will now be categorized as hate speech?
Anyhow, I couldn’t help but wonder if “vermin” has been used by anyone else. Turns out… someone did.
Referencing both the Douay-Rheims Bible along with the Latin Vulgate Bible, I’ve found that in the 1st Book of Kings Chapter 5: verse 6, the second sentence reads in English;
And in the villages and fields in the midst of that country, there came forth a multitude of mice, and there was the confusion of a great mortality in the city.
The Douay-Rheims Bible was faithfully translated to English by Fr. Gregory Martin and a handful of other biblical scholars between 1582-1610. Pre-dating the DRB would be the Latin Vulgate Bible. It was St. Jerome who started in the year 382 translated both the entire Old and New Testaments from Koine Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic to Liturgical Latin.
That’s important, because the ancient Latin is obviously a “dead language.” Unlike “live languages” such as English, German, Korean, etc., the words of live languages evolve and change meanings. Dead languages don’t. What’s meant is said, and what’s said is meant;
Et ebullierunt villae et agri in medio regionis illius, et nati sunt mures et facta est confusio mortis magnae in civitate.
It’s the word “mures” that can be translated to mice, or even rats, or believe it or not, vermin.
When I first heard of Trump using the word “vermin,” Naziism wasn’t the first thing to come to mind. It was actually the estimated two million rats known to swarm the island of Manhattan.
Seriously, the Perpetually Offended really do need to lighten-up.