Talk Elections

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/04/santorum-bella-is-now-an-nra-life-member-120479.html (http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/04/santorum-bella-is-now-an-nra-life-member-120479.html)

"Bella Santorum, Rick Santorum’s ailing three-year-old daughter, is now a life member of the National Rifle Association.

The ex-candidate announced at the NRA’s annual meeting here Friday that he and his wife Karen have long been life members.

“Now Bella is a life member of the NRA,” he said. “And I hope it’s a long life!”"

This is pretty silly. She could always turn out to be anti-gun when she is older. Kids don't always turn out like their parents. Look at Ronald Wilson Reagan Jr. for example.

Why? She's three and most likely cannot use a firearm. This is kinda sad and weird at the same time (sad because of the genetic disease which dramatically shortens lifespans, weird because of the NRA involvement w/ a 3-year-old).

She's not likely to get much older. About 1% of kids with her condition live to age 10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisomy_18

I think it's sad and weird. Just like when Santorum brought his dead fetus son home and him and his wife shared the bed with the dead fetus.

Did the fetus join the NRA, too?

What % survive to three?

Isn't that what Trigg Palin has too?

No, he's got Down Syndrome.

wrong board.

The NRA: Proving a 3 year old can be a responsible gun owner...as long as they're white.

Hilarious.

Santorum's wife is called Bella ?

My latin is a bit rusty, but doesn't "bella santorum" mean "wars of saints" ? ;D

Daughter, and I'm pretty sure "Bella" as a name is "beautiful," not "wars."

Edit: (Not that I'd be surprised if Ricky actually wanted to name his daughter "wars").

bellum, i, n means "war". "bella" as the feminine of "beautiful" is italian and doesn't have latin roots AFAIK.

^^^^^^

That's a pretty f-ed up family.

LOL

BTW: Why does the NRA not endorse Obama for re-election ? Didn't gun sales increase by 200% or so during his first term ?

Bellus, -a, -um - pretty, handsome, charming, pleasant, agreeable, polite; nice, fine, excellent; (http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordz.pl?keyword=bella)

(The vast majority of Italian words have Latin roots, especially the Latinate ones...)

Well, we were both right.

Bella - beautiful. Bellum - War. Entirely different Latin roots.

Neutral words of the second declination have -a in their plural. Therefore bella means wars.

Using children for politics? Disgusting!

And knowing Rick's love for the latter, we all know what etymology he'd prefer.


Still, as a Latin word it was relatively rare. 'Pulcher' was much more common.

Edit: Or 'is' much more common, as I'm obviously only talking about written texts.

A lot of words in later languages I have been told come from the less 'prestige', more plebeian versions of Latin words, so it's entirely possible that 'bellus' was actually more common in speech rather than just being slang or an unusual usage.


'Wars of the saints' is one of the more appropriate names for Rick Santorum's daughter.

Again. Bellum = War. Bellus = Pretty/Nice.

Completely different latin roots.

Bellus originates from bonus - benulus -> bellus.

These are false friends. Just because they look similar doesn't mean that they are similar.

How the heck did this thread evolve from a disabled toddler being a member of the NRA to a discussion about the Latin roots of her name?

Yes, but bella is in fact the plural of bellum. It's not that Bella Santorum's name actually means 'wars of the saints'; it's that it can be made to mean that with a pun or play on words.

It got a topic upgrade.

It's sad when politicians use their kids as political props. It's even sadder when the kid is too young (and in this case, too mentally handicapped) to understand what is going on.

The point was that the plural of "bellum" is indeed "bella."  3rd declension plurals and all that.

Bella could also be used as a feminine adjective for "beautiful," but as already pointed out, it would be far more likely to be "pulchra."

...Six years of Latin, why do I mostly remember the grammar stuff?  Memories of years of "why do the 4th and 5th declensions even exist?  This is dumb" flooding back to me.  (Yes, I know 4th declension is mostly for foreign loanwords...5th declension has no excuse)

Not sure how Bella is going to use a gun with down syndrome once she's an adult, but whatever. 

She doesn't have Down syndrome, and Down syndrome doesn't inherently make one incapable of shooting a gun.

Also, considering 'santorum' is a plural modifier form of something, putting an adjective in front of it doesn't make much sense in Latin.