# Help- I need an English-Latin translation for my website **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303 "2008-03-13T23:37:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/1 "2008-03-13T23:37:28Z")
I’m a special effects artist, and I need a motto for my website. I want something obscure, so people have to ask me what it means (which would be useful during interviews). Anyway, here’s what I need translated: “Shit gets blown up real good” Any ideas? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/2 "2008-03-14T01:47:07Z")
Until someone more proficient comes along: _Merda bene erumpitur_. Of course, “merda” doesn’t have the same metaphorical extensions as in English, so this is unfortunately literal. Latin speakers, assuming they understood this at all, would probably assume you’d eaten some bad doormouse. ---
**Author:** ![BrainFireBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@BrainFireBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainFireBob)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/3 "2008-03-14T05:48:01Z")
perseus.tufts.edu ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/4 "2008-03-14T09:22:06Z")
Since you mean shit as ‘stuff’, merda isn’t right. Something like ‘maxima delenda’ might convey the proper sense - a literal translation is ‘(Things) destroyed most greatly’. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/5 "2008-03-14T15:31:41Z")
_Erumpenda Sunt Maxime,_ lit. “(things) must be blown apart real good.” _Sunt_ is optional, but I think it makes for a better motto. Another option is to add _nobis_: _Erumpenda Nobis Maxime_ - “We must blow things apart real good.” In this one I’d omit _sunt_. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/6 "2008-03-14T16:23:41Z")
Would some usage of the word _res_ serve as an effective translation for “shit/stuff”? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/7 "2008-03-14T16:51:02Z")
See, now, this is what I love about the Straight Dope. No matter how obscure (or silly) the question is… By Og, someone here will be able to figure it out. You guys rock. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/8 "2008-03-14T16:52:21Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Since you mean shit as ‘stuff’, merda isn’t right. Something like ‘maxima delenda’ might convey the proper sense - a literal translation is ‘(Things) destroyed most greatly’. [/QUOTE] It’s been a while, but wouldn’t that be closer to “(things) that should be destroyed most greatly”? ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/9 "2008-03-14T17:58:20Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] Would some usage of the word _res_ serve as an effective translation for “shit/stuff”? [/QUOTE] In the plural _res_ can refer to “things”–cf. Lucretius’ poem _De Rerum Natura_. It also seems to have been used in the singular by the early playwrights to mean something close to “stuff”: _Chrysalus…perdidit filium, me, atque rem omnem meam_ (Plautus, _Bacchides_ V.1112-3). I could see using it here, but would personally opt against it because _res_ is generally more abstract than just physical “shit/stuff”. If you wanted to be explicit, my vote would be for _scruta_ - generally “stuff”, but usually meaning “crappy stuff, junk”, much in the same way we use the word "shit’ to refer to–err–crap we could probably do without. It’s the word used, for example, by Jerome of the things the merchants brought to King Solomon (1 Kings 10:15). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-an-english-latin-translation-for-my-website/441303/10 "2008-03-14T18:01:43Z")
Nope. And I typoed and got the translation completely wrong anyway. 'Maxima delenda means ‘Destroying the greatest things’. ‘Most greatly’ is maxim **e**. I’m not going to compound my errors further.