Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Yesterday I Learned About ATMs

It started with Paul Murphy at Alphaville's Markets Live:

Tuesday, 27th June, 2017  
Live markets commentary from FT.com
PM Hi there -- welcome to Markets Live
PM Suddenly lots of things happening...

PM Suppose we need to in on the various bits of tech-related news 

PM  
 https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2F__origami%2Fservice%2Fimage%2Fv2%2Fimages%2Fraw%2Fhttp%253A%252F%252Fnewsimg.bbc.co.uk%252Fmedia%252Fimages%252F42412000%252Fjpg%252F_42412520_cashpoint-man_body.jpg%3Fsource%3DAlphaville%26width%3D675%26fit%3Dscale-down?source=Alphaville
PM That's John Shepherd Barron, inventor of the ATM

PM The ATM is 50 years old today
PM Spin forward to the cutting tech of today...MORE
Which of course lead to the question "Do the Vatican Bank ATM's really have instructions in Latin?"
(I had heard that from a less-than-reliable-source)

As it turns out, the answer is:

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--kiGvE5-w--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/17ktqx1deauuejpg.jpg

Yes, Latin is one of the language options.
In fact there's even a TIL thread at reddit.
Which managed to stay on topic for about four comments:
Pope: Why do I have to push "1" for Latin? It should only be Latin! If you're gonna come here, learn the language! Foreigners!

"And then they ask 'Are you sure you want to withdraw $DCXLII?'"
"$642? The ATMs in the Vatican give out ones!?"
Smallest note in the EU is €5 Maybe it's €640 and two Hail Marys?

"Romanes eunt domus."
The line is "People called 'Romanes' they go the house." "Romanes" is not a Latin word; he pluralized a second declension word as if it were third declension, so it doesn't translate to anything.

"Eunt?? What is eunt???"
3rd person plural present active of the verb 'eo, ire', meaning to go.
And from there it just descended into madness.

Until Il Papa decided to show off by making a withdrawal:

http://www.2oceansvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bank.jpg