Did you Granulate?

I know, it’s supposed to be “graduate,” but I had a friend whom I’ve lost touch with (Hi Andrea!) who liked to say it that way, so the word in the title is in her memory. Anyway, what do you call someone who graduates? Here’s a little Latin lesson for you.

First, someone who gets it wrong:

Okay, here’s how it works:

• If you’re a male graduate, you’re an alumnus. If you want to refer to more than one of you males, it’s alumni.
• If you’re female, it’s alumna; if there are more than one of you, use alumnæ. (The æ is pronounced like the a in hat.)
• And if you’re referring to a mixed group of graduates, you act like everyone is male and use alumni. Sorry—Latin died before they had gender equality. Or women’s lib, if you’re old enough.

I learned this from my favorite English teacher in high school Mrs. Baird; I never took Latin, but I remember this!

And apparently you don’t even have to graduate, you just had to have been a student.