daily dose of latin

ok, so as i was driving home from dropping my youngest off at the soccer bus.....i was listening to the npr sports show...only a game....and in the short piece about how they were not going to do pieces on th tour de france...the latin phrase sine quo non was used.....and though i knew it was latin.....i had to come home and look it up.... without which, nothing; it is essential....no idea about the context in which it was used...i was much too dazzled by unknown latin to catch the rest......