Today I got my flu shot and the shingles vaccine which, true to the pharmacist’s warning, made me feel like I was on a vodka and Benadryl bender. A flu epidemic on top of the COVID-19 pandemic would be a very bad thing, so I encourage you to get vaccinated as soon as possible. And if you are also an old person, the shingles vaccine’s a good idea too.
Vaccines being in the news, every now and then a report or podcast explains how the term ‘vaccine’ came from the Latin word for cow, ‘vacca’. What they usually get wrong is the pronunciation. In Classical Latin, ‘v’ is pronounced ‘w’. So, three cows written ‘Vacca, vacca, vacca!’ is actually pronounced ‘Waka waka waka!’
And so it’s time to trot out one of my favorite Cyriak videos, retitled in Latin as “Vaccae et Vaccae et Vaccae!“