# Latin saying - tempus fugit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943 "2004-09-03T10:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/1 "2004-09-03T10:59:53Z")
Any latin dopers out there can help me out with a latin saying I’m trying to remember? It starts “tempus…” and roughly translates as “the times change and we must change with them,” but I can’t remember much more than that. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/2 "2004-09-03T11:06:35Z")
Probably not the one you’re thinking of, but a phrase used by the Roman orator Cicero in his speech against Catiline touches on time - more actually the times (as in ‘the times they are a-changing’): o tempora, o mores! which translates as ‘alas for the times and the customs/manners’ - or, indeed, mores. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/3 "2004-09-03T12:11:54Z")
Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/4 "2004-09-03T12:42:48Z")
> [@Desmostylus](#): > > Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. That’s the one - any idea of the origin? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/5 "2004-09-03T12:57:45Z")
Nope, no idea. Don’t worry though, someone else probably will. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/6 "2004-09-03T13:25:54Z")
_Convenite, gentes, Quaqua vagietis, Agnosciteque ut fontes amplexi crescentes sint Et confite ut mox penitus imbuebitis Sicut tempus salvatiens Incohate natare Alioqui percorruitis Tempora mutantur_ ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/7 "2004-09-03T13:38:28Z")
So how do you say, _Time flies when you’re having fun_? ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/8 "2004-09-03T13:38:38Z")
The quote is by Andreas Cellarius from his _Harmonia Macrocosmica_, published in 1600. The full quote is: > [@](#): > > Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. > Astra regunt homines, sed regit astra Deus. or > [@](#): > > Times change and we change with them. > The stars rule men but God rules the stars. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/9 "2004-09-03T14:56:21Z")
“Time sure is fun when you’re having flies.” --The Way of the Frog ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/10 "2004-09-03T17:40:07Z")
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a bannana. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/11 "2004-09-03T19:18:34Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > So how do you say, > > _Time flies when you’re having fun_? _Tempus fugit dum ludes?_ ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/12 "2004-09-04T00:21:32Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Time flies like an arrow, > fruit flies like a bannana. btw what do you cal this kind of statement :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/13 "2004-09-04T06:58:09Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > btw > > what do you cal this kind of statement > > :eek: 😃 An example of Marxism? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/14 "2004-09-04T07:33:10Z")
Time flies ? I can’t. They’re too fast. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-saying-tempus-fugit/262943/15 "2004-09-04T16:00:23Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Time flies like an arrow, > > fruit flies like a bannana. > > btw > > what do you cal this kind of statement? Obviously, the second phrase is **ambiguous**. It can be ‘read’ in two ways. The first way is to take ‘fruit’ as the subject, ‘flies’ as the verb, and ‘like’ as a comparative linking word and ‘banana’ as the object of the comparison. The second way is to take ‘fruit flies’ as the subject, ‘like’ as the verb meaning ‘predisposed toward,’ and ‘a banana’ as the direct object. Is there a word for this type of ambiguity? Depends on how you define the cause of the ambiguity. Is it because the words are ambiguous or the construction of the sentence is ambiguous? If your take is that the words are ambiguous, then you have **'morphological ambiguity** ’ (i.e., the form of the word; the word can function as a verb or a noun, e.g.) or a \*\*‘semantic ambiguity’ \*\* (i.e., the meaning of the word; the word can have several definitions). In logic, when you play upon morphological or semantical ambiguities, this is called **equivocation** or **semantic shift**. This often happens when one uses a particular meaning of a morphologically ambiguous word at the beginning of a discourse and by the end, one shifts the meaning of the word and is using a different meaning of the morphologically ambiguous word. In the above phrase in question, ‘flies’ and ‘like’ have undergone semantic shift and are being equivocated. If your take is that the **construction of the sentence** is ambiguous, then you have **syntactic ambiguity**. Examples: > [@](#): > > Teenagers shouldn’t be allowed to drive, it’s getting too dangerous on the streets. {which is the cause for the other?} > > nothing is good enough for you {you deserve better, or you’re never satisfied?} Now, there’s a special word for a syntactical ambiguity: **Amphiboly** (or amphibology). However, some sources I’ve checked define an amphiboly as any sort of grammatical ambiguity, not just a syntactical ambiguity. Since semantics is a subset of grammar (as is syntax), this would mean that a semantic or morphological ambiguity would also be an amphiboly. So to answer the original question, what do we call the construction of ‘fruit flies like a banana’? Well, it seems that the ambiguity relies on morphological, semantic, and syntactical ambiguities. I would use the larger meaning of amphiboly in that any grammatical ambiguity can be called an amphiboly. If one nitpicks that only syntactical ambiguity can be amphibolous and not semantical ambiguities, then I’d say you’d be safe to call it **“grammatically ambiguous”** to cover all bases. ## Peace. “Look, they are flying planes.” “Who is?” “No, they are.” “Well, of course, they wouldn’t be planes if they didn’t fly.” “Model planes don’t fly.” “That’s because they’re just perfect geometrical constructs and don’t have wings.”