# Dropping in a little latin phrasing. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689 "2012-04-23T14:32:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/21 "2012-04-23T16:21:58Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And sometimes you want to communicate that the other guy is an uneducated cretin! Unfortunately, I don’t know a latin phrase for that. _Cretinous maximus_? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/22 "2012-04-23T16:26:21Z")
Here’s one that bugs me. I spend much time outdoors, often with folks of the same interests. And since there are a lot of local get togethers here or there or folks visiting from some other region there are a fair number of people that rotate through my hobbies over a period of time. Every now and then I get one of these folks. Thats not a cardinal, its a _redis birdis_. That’s not a redwood, its a _bigus treeus_. And so on and son. Everything pointed out or identified must have its latin name mentioned. Yeah, its kind of nice you know the latin name for this or that. But to me, unless you can tell me something special or interesting about that particular bird (like it only eats orange blossums) or that tree (its the only one pollinated by bats), I am not particulary impressed you know a fancy name for something I can identify just as well. To be honest, unless you are in the habit of writing stuff that requires you to use the latin names it seems to me to be a waste of mental energy. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/23 "2012-04-23T16:29:08Z")
Whenever I use a Latin tag I 'm always careful to provide a translation as I realize that to have had a classical education is unusual these days. (I was schooled in England in the 50s when Latin was a basic part of the syllabus for the upper steams in grammar schools.) There really are times when nothing will say it as perfectly or as succinctly as a piece of Latin. ---
**Author:** ![secretsmile36](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@secretsmile36](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/secretsmile36)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/24 "2012-04-23T16:32:26Z")
I took a class in Latin in university mainly because I majored in history and I was especially fascinated by ancient Roman history. My brother used to tease me about taking the course by asking me if I was planning to move to Latina. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/25 "2012-04-23T16:32:49Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Except that sometimes it is. There are a handful I’ll occasionally use, which either have subtly different meanings from their nearest English equivalent, are less verbose, provide emphasis, or simply scan better. > > _ad hoc > ad nauseum > et cetera > de facto > post mortem > ipso facto > in extremis > non sequiter > per capita > pro rata_ > > Useful little phrases. These are all phrases that are part of the English language. Anyone who can’t understand them, or a large list of similar borrowed words and phrases from Latin and many other languages, is not fluent in English. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/26 "2012-04-23T16:35:11Z")
If I had to guess, I’d say the OP is talking about dropping in a latinism when there is a commonly used and perfectly good word or phrase that could be used instead. Whenever I see somebody use “mea culpa”, my first thoughts are usually along the lines of "why did he say that? Doesn’t he know about the phrases _I’m sorry_ or _my mistake_? Yes, those words that, when some character in a movie says them, all the other characters look around at each other and say “who \*says[i/] that”? I don’t think the OP is talking about loan words or abbreviations that have become so much a part of the language that a majority of people probably don’t even realize that they were, at one point in the distant past, not part of our routine vocabulary at all. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/27 "2012-04-23T16:38:40Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Whenever I use a Latin tag I 'm always careful to provide a translation as I realize that to have had a classical education is unusual these days. (I was schooled in England in the 50s when Latin was a basic part of the syllabus for the upper steams in grammar schools.) > > There really are times when nothing will say it as perfectly or as succinctly as a piece of Latin. But rarely will most people understand what you’ve said, unless you’re talking to your old college roommate. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/28 "2012-04-23T16:52:18Z")
I suppose you’re right, I must surely be a huge hypocrite for using ‘etc’ and other common Latin phrases. I’m thinking more of less known things like, “Ave Atque Vale” (Please, please, please can the poster not take this personally, just the easiest example to access!).This is more the kind of Latin usage I was referring to. It seems to scream something untoward, about the speaker, to me. Yeah, I guess some, perhaps many, people do know this phrase. And I accept that it is, at some level, hair splitting or nit picking. (Also a little douchie.)This is more the kind of Latin usage I was referring to. It seems to scream something untoward about the speaker to me. I guess it’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/29 "2012-04-23T16:53:44Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Except that it almost never actually is the best way to communicate anything. > > Look at the following, and tell me it’s not easier to understand: > > I’m glad you didn’t make this pitting a personal attack. English is essentially the world language now, and according to what most people say, Latin is not understood by most people. I hereby reject the use of Latin words, phrases, and so on, and I’d be ever so grateful if you’d speak and write using only small words that I already know. > > (And no, I graduated from neither Harvard nor Yale; nor did I graduate with honors or at the top of my class). Meh, you showed that a single example intentionally written with a lot of latin in it could have been written without the latin. This has no relation to your claim that latin phrases “almost never actually [are] the best way to communicate anything.” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/30 "2012-04-23T16:58:52Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I’m thinking more of less known things like, “Ave Atque Vale” (Please, please, please can the poster not take this personally, just the easiest example to access!). What poster? Where? This is the Pit man. The PIT! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/31 "2012-04-23T17:02:04Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649331&highlight=atque+vale) it is. It’s a little pompous–however, I think it’s meant to be self-deprecatingly fake-pompous. I could be wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/32 "2012-04-23T17:13:39Z")
I’m wrestling with myself over whether I should participate in this thread. My primary concern is that it’s a bit _infra dig_. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/33 "2012-04-23T17:16:08Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Please understand that this is directed at no one in particular, and I mean that in earnest, entirely. It’s not that I have anything against anyone. Nothing but respect. Sincerely. > > When people slip latin phrasing, (without even ever bothering to provide any definition), casually into conversation, correspondence, it is extremely hard for me to see anything other than overt, condescending, douchebaggery. So much so, I find myself acutely embarrassed for them. > > I’ll apologize right now, I’m sure it’s only me, and my personal short coming. > > I don’t feel this way with my Chinese friends who toss in a Mandarin phrase, or Jewish friends who teach me a new Yiddish word. (Though they are mannered enough to make an explanatory aside, of course!) Jargon in excessive use, will drive me from a conversation, on occasion. Even Nerdy friend speaking Kingon doesn’t give me that same gut response. > > There is something about the Latin, rubs me like people bragging about going to Harvard or Yale. > > I am impressed with intelligence and learning, and great universities, having admiration for all these things. But if it’s all you talk about now I just see a douche. > > Is it just me? > [@Hogfather65](#): > > Sometimes we all feel like that - so carpe diem I’m not sure that he _can_ carpe anything at all. If he could we’d probably call him “wrists.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/34 "2012-04-23T17:17:07Z")
_Sic transit gloria mundi_. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/35 "2012-04-23T17:29:02Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > _Sic transit gloria mundi_. Translation: Gloria threw up on the bus on Monday ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/36 "2012-04-23T18:41:51Z")
My torts professor opined that _res ipsa loquitur_ was latin for “I’m going to take a rather logical and straight forward application of the common law and make it sound more complicated than it really is.” ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/37 "2012-04-23T19:09:20Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > condescending, douchebaggery > > I just see a douche. French from Italian doccia ‘conduit pipe,’ from docciare ‘pour by drops,’ **based on Latin ductus ‘leading’ (see duct).** ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/38 "2012-04-23T21:19:31Z")
I’d be willing to consider not using Latin, but I’m going to need some quid pro quo. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/39 "2012-04-23T21:36:25Z")
Eh, I can see elbow’s point. Etc, i.e., e.g. et al, and others of that ilk are pretty standard bits of english nomenclature and even if you don’t know the actual latin, usually you can figure it out from context or whatever. But sometimes you meet that one guy who thinks every point is better underscored with a quote from Catullus minus an appropriate translation and I can’t just copy and paste into google because I’m busy lighting the fucker on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689/40 "2012-04-23T21:40:05Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > But if it’s all you talk about now I just see a douche. The Latin doesn’t bother me. It’s the French I fucking Hate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dropping-in-a-little-latin-phrasing/619689.md?page=3)