Did you know that the Vatican still conducts its official business in Latin? That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is: Few if any modern topics can be discussed in a language that's been dead for centuries. How does the Vatican handle this problem? Every thirty years or so, it makes up new words - and publishes them in a special dictionary called the Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis. Here are some selections from the 1991 edition:

amnesia: memoriae amissio

baby sitter: infantaria

bidet: ovata pelvis

bottle washer: machina lagoenis expurgandis

brainwash: coercitio mentis

car wash: aeris benzinique mixtura

cellulite: cellutis

Christmas tree: arbor natalicia

cover girl: exterioris paginae puella

disc brakes: sufflamen disciforma

discotheque: orbium phonographicorum theca

fax: exemplum simillime expressum

flashbulb: fulgor photographicus

to flirt: lusorie amare

guerrilla warfare: bellum tectum

photocopy: exemplar luce expressum

pinball machine: sphaeriludium electricum nomismate actum

refrigerator: cella frigorifera

secret agent: speculator tectus

to be lazy at work: neglenter operari

television: instrumentum televisificum

traffic jam: fluxus interclusio

travel agency: itinerum procuratio

washing machine: machina linteorum lavatoria