# any Dopers speak Latin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074 "2005-02-08T23:01:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![murky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@murky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murky)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/1 "2005-02-08T23:01:20Z")
Any Dopers fluent in Latin? It is everyone’s favorite dead language, after all. At least, I think that this is Latin. A buddy of mine just sent this to me asking if I could translate and I’m stumped. Is it a religous thing? In case you can’t see the picture, the phrase is: omnium finis imminet [pic here](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v160/silverado/SanFran1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/2 "2005-02-08T23:14:57Z")
Basically, this means “The end is nigh.” Literally “The end of all things nears.” Latin apocalyptic graffiti. ---
**Author:** ![murky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@murky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murky)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/3 "2005-02-09T14:07:49Z")
Thanks Melandry! Thats interesting. I guess some wacked out intelligent homeless guy is graffitiing. Wonder what his deal is? And right before Ash Wednesday, too. Tsk tsk. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/4 "2005-02-09T15:27:51Z")
What’s this, then? ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’? ‘People called Romanes they go the house’? ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/5 "2005-02-09T15:45:32Z")
> [@lno](#): > > What’s this, then? ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’? ‘People called Romanes they go the house’? I’d guess “Romans Go Home.” Something those Gauls might have written. But I haven’t done much with my Latin grammar for 25 years or so… ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/6 "2005-02-09T15:54:19Z")
> [@2nd Law](#): > > I’d guess “Romans Go Home.” Something those Gauls might have written. > > But I haven’t done much with my Latin grammar for 25 years or so… You also haven’t done much with classic British humor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/7 "2005-02-09T16:12:56Z")
> [@murky](#): > > Thats interesting. I guess some wacked out intelligent homeless guy is graffitiing. Wonder what his deal is? Sounds more like rebellious nerds to me. ---
**Author:** ![murky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@murky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murky)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/8 "2005-02-09T18:45:48Z")
could be. San Francisco offers such a charming variety of crazies. But honestly, who speaks Latin well enough to want to graffiti it everywhere? ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/9 "2005-02-09T19:05:46Z")
> [@murky](#): > > But honestly, who speaks Latin well enough to want to graffiti it everywhere? I can’t speak for the crazies, but it is nice to have a few quick phrases memorized, even if it means spending 10 minutes with a dictionary that has a grammar section figuring out how to decline the nouns and verbs. 😃 (Not fluent though, sorry.) ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/10 "2005-02-09T20:42:03Z")
I once found the following inscribed on the wall of the men’s room in my college dorm: VENI VIDI VOMITI ---
**Author:** ![TheInterruptingCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TheInterruptingCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInterruptingCow)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/11 "2005-02-09T22:26:17Z")
> [@umop ap!sdn](#): > > I can’t speak for the crazies, but it is nice to have a few quick phrases memorized, even if it means spending 10 minutes with a dictionary that has a grammar section figuring out how to decline the nouns and verbs. 😃 > > (Not fluent though, sorry.) Try Henry Beard’s [“Lingua Latinae Occasionibus Omnibus (Latin for All Occasions)”.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394586603/qid=1107988564/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-6154015-9847304) Learn such classic Latin phrases as, “Screw you and the horse you rode in on.” ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/12 "2005-02-10T15:03:30Z")
> [@TheInterruptingCow](#): > > Try Henry Beard’s [“Lingua Latinae Occasionibus Omnibus (Latin for All Occasions)”.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394586603/qid=1107988564/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-6154015-9847304) > > Learn such classic Latin phrases as, “Screw you and the horse you rode in on.” Ah yes. _Futue te ipsum et caballum tuum_. I try to slip that one into casual conversation whenever possible. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/13 "2005-02-10T15:36:54Z")
Esyay. Iway eakspay Atinlay. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/14 "2005-02-10T18:01:50Z")
> [@TheInterruptingCow](#): > > Try Henry Beard’s [“Lingua Latinae Occasionibus Omnibus (Latin for All Occasions)”.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394586603/qid=1107988564/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-6154015-9847304) > > Learn such classic Latin phrases as, “Screw you and the horse you rode in on.” Thanks! 🙂 But [this site](http://www.insultmonger.com/swearing/latin.htm) is giving them away for free. 😃 > [@JThunder](#): > > Esyay. Iway eakspay Atinlay. The Igpay dialect doesn’t count. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/15 "2005-02-10T18:09:41Z")
Ego adsuesco percepium Latinum pro ludus altus… nam ego timeo quod Latinum mei magnus penuriosus. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/16 "2005-02-10T18:15:12Z")
> [@lno](#): > > What’s this, then? ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’? ‘People called Romanes they go the house’? Hail Caesar and everything, sir! ---
**Author:** ![murky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@murky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murky)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/17 "2005-02-10T18:35:31Z")
you know what really stinks? I took Latin for two freaking years and I couldn’t figure this out on my own. Sheesh. I was asking a friend of mine about it and he said he saw something similar (we think). Maybe there is a roving band of prep school thugs tagging up the joint. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/18 "2005-02-10T21:58:20Z")
About 15 years ago I went on retreat during Holy Week to a monastery in France, not far from Orange, near Avignon. It was a traditional monastery, where all of the offices and masses were in Latin according to the 1962 liturgical books. The monks spoke very little English, and my French was similarly limited. We managed to have reasonably comprehensible, if somewhat basic, conversations in Latin, which was the only language we really had in common. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/19 "2005-02-11T03:23:30Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > About 15 years ago I went on retreat during Holy Week to a monastery in France, not far from Orange, near Avignon. It was a traditional monastery, where all of the offices and masses were in Latin according to the 1962 liturgical books. The monks spoke very little English, and my French was similarly limited. We managed to have reasonably comprehensible, if somewhat basic, conversations in Latin, which was the only language we really had in common. Oh goodness, I can just see the hell of that. “Sum… sum… goddammit, I need to go to the bathroom!” ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-dopers-speak-latin/289074/20 "2005-02-11T14:49:55Z")
I got lost once in Padova and had to ask directions from a priest. He spoke no English and my Italian was pathetic, so I tried Latin. It worked, and we managed to communicate, but the poor old guy stared at me as if I’d just stepped off of a spaceship.