QUID PRO QUO

I took four years of Latin in high school.  I don't regret it one bit.  Latin is a huge aid in recognizing English words, most of which are rooted in the dead ancient language.  Some phrases we use, especially in legal parlance, are taken directly from the Latin.

My memory tells me that 'quid pro quo' should be translated as 'this for that' - more generally, 'something for something' else.  The group of words are being used as one entity making it a noun.  For instance, this transaction was a 'quid pro quo'.  No matter, by now, everyone should know what it means.

Before you'all get too crazy about what is going on in D.C., think about it.  Every negotiation of any kind involves a 'quid pro quo'.  We are almost always giving something to get something else.  Negotiations are a trade.  So, of itself, a 'quid pro quo' is not bad.  It is essential to a trade.  Anytime you ask someone to do a favor for you, even if you do not offer to do anything in return, that someone will consider what benefits he will garner from agreeing to the request.  These benefits can be real or imagined, obvious or remote.

Don't let the media badger you into thinking a 'quid pro quo' is necessarily bad.  Politicians do it every day.  Our past Secretary of State did it all the time -  e.g. when she convinced a British agent to falsify a document about her presidential opponent.
🦅