Devoted to technical writing and technical writers

Since we are now discussing the subject of the Marines, it is worthwhile to take a look at their Motto: Semper Fi!  This is a shortened form of the Latin Semper Fidelis. In English, it means “Always Faithful”.

Like many foreign words that get assimilated somehow into everyday Americana or English usage, there is a tendency to apply pronunciations based on the way the average American speaks. Thus, the “Fi” in this motto is corrupted from the way it should be pronounced, short i (FEE), to a long i: FIE. Who but a Latin speaker or scholar would object anyway?

How many Marines or students of this great fighting Corps know that the motto SEMPER FI was used starting 1883? And yet, prior to the adoption of this motto, the Marines had at least three other mottos: FORTITUDINE (from Latin: With Courage); PER MARE, PER TERRAM (from Latin: Through Land, Through Sea); and the more mundane “TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI”.

sourced by JMJF