Responding to reports that President Bush hoped to trade passage of a Colombia free trade deal for a bailout for Detroit automakers, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said [Tuesday] that “the President did not suggest a quid pro quo.” (Politico.com)

What the heck is a “quid pro quo?” I wondered. Am I dumb or something? I looked it up. Quid pro quo … Latin for “something for something,” indicating a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods and services. Thanks, Wikipedia.

This incident made me reflect on times I’ve encountered a Latin expression in the past and hadn’t the faintest idea what it meant. As a journalism student I was always told to avoid Latin phrases in my writing. “Don’t use ‘em,” one particularly gruff professor warned. “‘Cause no one knows what in the hell they mean anyway.”

The following is a list of 25 Latin phrases you may or may not encounter at some point during your lifetime. I’d refrain from incorporating them into your vernacular at the risk of sounding … well, stick-up-ass-ish, for lack of better term. Sorry, Dana. And lawyers.

1. A fortiori – from the stronger; even more so
2. Ad nauseam – to the point of disgust; when something is repeated over and over
3. Carpe noctem – seize the night
4. Caveat emptor – buyer beware
5. De facto – from deed; existing
6. De jure – according to law
7. Emeritus – veteran; retired from office
8. Exempli gratia (e.g.) – for the sake of an example
9. Habeas corpus – you may have the body; legal petition challenging imprisonment
10. In actu - in practice
11. Inter alia – among other things
12. Ipso facto – by the deed itself; by the very fact
13. Lectori salutem (L.S.) – greetings reader (used to open a letter)
14. Memento mori – remember your mortality
15. Memento vivire – remember to live
16. Nihil ad rem – nothing to do with the point; irrelevant
17. Pari passu – with equal step; moving together, simultaneously
18. Post hoc ergo propter hoc – after this therefore because of this; it happened before and it is thus the cause
19. Prima facie – by first look, self-evident from facts
20. Re – by the thing; in the matter of (used in e-mail correspondence)
21. Rigor mortis – stiffness of death
22. Sine qua non – without which not; an indispensable person or object
23. Sensu lato – in the wide sense; with the broad meaning
24. Summum bonum – the highest good; the ultimate ends
25. Vox nihili - voice of nothing; useless or ambiguous phrase or statement

Source: “List of Latin Phrases,” Wikipedia.com

Election Day in America.

I am proud of most Americans today — proud of their passion, and proud of their concern for the future vitality of the United States. O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties … above Obama and McCain. The voter vigor we see this election is incredible, but perhaps not as incredible as some of the rhetoric I hear spewing from the mouths of uninformed citizens from nearly every political persuasion. Their words are based on fear and fear alone. And whether they know it or not, they are selling this great country short.

I was on FOXNews.com this morning, perusing some comments on YOU DECIDE: Who do you think will win?, a page set up to encourage general discourse on today’s election. As I scrolled down the page I felt a sick feeling in my stomach. Self-appointed experts on both sides were filling out the very same Mad-Lib: “If ___________ wins, this country as we know it will end.” Is America really so fragile that one man can, in four years, reverse its greatness? I beg to differ.

Writes Doug: “If Obama wins I can say for the first time in my life I am NOT proud of my country.” Well Doug, if a single politician can alter your loyalty to America than perhaps that loyalty is not as strong as it should be. What makes America is its people — not the politicians we elect to run our government.

Here’s another gem. This one comes from Tina: “So [McCain] believes cheating on his first wife is part of good American values? Republicans are so hypocritical. They wanted to impeach Clinton for cheating on his wife, but it’s OK for McCain to do it?” Oh, Tina Tina Tina. In my humble opinion, cheating on your wife is immoral and wrong no matter how you slice it. But that’s not why Clinton came under fire. Clinton allegedly obstructed justice and committed perjury. He lied under oath to the American people, and that is why people wanted him out. Was this a crime great enough to warrant impeachment? Probably not. And guess what — he wasn’t convicted.

Another person, identified by the moniker “Florida Resident,” writes: “Obama will probably win because he bought the election with money funneled in through his Middle East ties. Look at the chief financial guys on his campaign; I do believe they are his college roommates from Pakistan. Do the math!” Obama did not “buy” this election any more than any candidate in the past did. He has a lot more money than McCain, but as far as we know he did not acquire these funds illegally. All people from Florida are not as ignorant as you, just as all people from Pakistan are not out to get America.

One poster declares that “McCain is the only way to keep the America we know and love alive.” And then there is Seamus, who calls McCain “an absolutely self-centered, egomaniac, BRAT.” Lon predicts that if Obama wins “we won’t have to look much longer for Bin Laden” because he will be seated at the White House dinner table. On the other hand, Bill calls Obama a “true biblical hero.”

All of this is just absurd.

I voted for John McCain today, but I don’t hate Barack Obama. I believe McCain is the right man for the job and agree with most of his ideological principles. I want a president who is willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats and a president with proven military experience. I trust McCain to carry this country forward. That being said, I respect the campaign Obama has run. He is obviously an intelligent man, with remarkable charisma to energize the millions of people he has these past two years. I also believe electing a black president would show the world how far this country has come from our less-honorable days of slavery and racial discrimination.

I hope this polarization subsides after the emotion of today has worn off. We are all Americans, no matter who we vote for. No one person can ruin this nation and we can thank the framers of the Constitution for that. As C. Brenny writes, “We should be proud that we live in the greatest nation on earth. All this negativity does nothing but undermine what we could achieve to make this country better.”

It’s true that Americans are faced with many challenges, but they are no greater than any this country has overcome in the past. I hope that no matter who wins today, we can put aside personal biases and show respect toward our new president. We’re better than the screaming pundits and we’re better than anonymous ranters. Barack-backers or McCain supporters, we are all Americans — and we are certainly better than this.

My mom once called me a “leaky hose spender,” which is basically another way of saying I spend money in small amounts, albeit frequently.

She’s absolutely right. I often justify my purchases based on their dollar value and only that. As an example, I never spend more than $30 dollars on a pair of jeans — generally, they’re on sale — but I own a completely impractical sixteen pairs. That’s nearly $500. On denim. In hindsight, I could have splurged on a couple pairs of True Religion or 7 for All Mankind jeans. These brands, made famous by the likes of Fergie and Gym Class Heroes, most likely would a) look better and b) last longer.

I first began to realize the nonsense of my own spending habits when I eyed the heaping pile of magazines in the corner of my bedroom and considered the dollar value of such a collection. I completed the simple math problem in my head: 100 magazines x $4 (the newsstand price) = Oh boy, $400. I never order subscriptions. My reason? I don’t think I can afford them. Think again.

The cold hard fact of all this is that I’m simply not an inherently good “budgeter.” And now that I am 22-years-old and out of college, I need to be. I can no longer go through life assuming that a $3.70 Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte here and 17 i-Tunes downloads there aren’t going to add up. I truly believe that if this financial crisis has a silver lining, it is that perhaps now more Americans like me will improve their spending habits.

One tool I plan to use once I start my career is a personal budget spreadsheet. I happened to find a wonderful template on Vertex42.com, and you can even download it for free. I love this template because it has all of the bases covered. Any and all possible expenses (and earnings opportunities) are listed in a month-by-month format. It’s been a great resource in determining salary requirements, as well as estimating cash flow.

Not all young people spend money as frivolously or flippantly as I do, but we all have times when we make unwise purchases. Most recent grads know they can’t afford a $1,500 plasma screen TV. What they might not know is that they also can’t afford to waste $4 a day on junk each year.

Do the math.

But that’s about it.

I finished college in May and since then I’ve been “without work” as they say. But back in April, I had a job. I hadn’t started it yet, but I had an offer letter stating my August start date. Perfect. One last summer of freedom and then I would begin my career at Steve & Barry’s corporate headquarters on Long Island. Yeah, the same Steve & Barry’s that went bankrupt in July. My offer was reneged before I could even begin, but I wasn’t too bummed. I had incurred absolutely no losses. I just figured I’d get another job. No problem.

Okay, problem. Getting a job is hard — especially a first job. I have experience, good extracurriculars, great grades, and yet I spend my days perusing Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder and hell, even Craig’s List for something … anything. I’m hopeful for a couple of opportunities I have pending, but I’m not holding off on applying elsewhere. This brings me to my first rule of unemployment: Rule #1) Don’t assume anything until it’s a guarantee. I chased a job for all of August and September because I genuinely thought I had a great shot at it. I halted my search for two months and things never panned out. Huge mistake. Epic, in fact.

Not having a job has surprisingly taught me a lot of things I will use when the day comes that I do have a job. I’ve become a master of the process: the initial contact, the callback, the phone interview, the in-office visit. (Every aspect with the exception of hiring, that is.) I know where to look for jobs, which positions are worth my time, and which are out of reach. And believe it or not, there is a often bigger picture at work beyond the hundreds of posts I glance at each day. Learning about who is hiring where and for what position can tell a candidate a great deal about which industries are the hottest and which roles are the most in demand. As an example, many of the PR/marketing jobs I’ve seen involve social or online media in one way or another. Clearly, agencies and in-house communications teams are recognizing the power of these new venues and hiring talent based on their ability to utilize the web. Rule #2) Learn from the experiences you have without a job so you can be a better employee when you do.

Leisurely perusing online career boards in between OC reruns on SoapNet doesn’t constitute a legitimate job search. I’ve learned that there are many other ways to work at landing a job besides simply submitting a resume. My last piece of advice is the following: Rule #3) Getting a job is a full-time job. Treat it like one. Here are some simple ways to do just that:

• Update your RSS feed with blogs and sites that will make you more educated in your career of choice. Browse them daily and you will likely become an even better candidate when you do score that big interview.
• Create an online portfolio Web site. This is an especially useful tool for people who have a lot of writing samples or “clips.” A resume can only say so much, so I always link to my online portfolio in my cover letter. Several recruiters have complimented me for it, probably because it makes their lives a heck of a lot easier. This is also a very easy and effective way to build your personal brand.
• Use the downtime to network. I recently joined LinkedIn and it has been a great way to keep in touch with professional connections. I’ve found several mentors in PR and communications through Notre Dame’s network. I’ve also connected with colleagues from past work experiences.

The bottom line: Not having a job isn’t fun. It’s frustrating, taxing, and at times discouraging — but I’m better for it.