# Latin translation question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660 "2008-07-24T21:30:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/1 "2008-07-24T21:30:23Z")
What would be a decent translation of “put your hands in the air like you just don’t care”? irishfella wants to know and my GCSE Latin isn’t up to it. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/2 "2008-07-24T23:05:15Z")
That’s a lyric, isn’t it? Are you looking for a hexameter or a pentameter? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/3 "2008-07-24T23:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=irishgirl] What would be a decent translation of “put your hands in the air like you just don’t care”? irishfella wants to know and my GCSE Latin isn’t up to it. [/QUOTE] “Carpe diem!” (very loosely, of course) ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/4 "2008-07-25T02:32:54Z")
Is he playing Kingdom of Loathing? (IIRC that shows up at one point in messy fake Latin). ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/5 "2008-07-25T08:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Are you looking for a hexameter or a pentameter? [/QUOTE] Whoa, I’ve seen a lot of dopers reply to the regular “Latin translation” threads, but this is really elaborate. I studied Latin in school for nine years and I was good at it, but I wouldn’t be able to compose a straight hexameter or pentameter unless I happened to come across words that fit by chance. My Latin has grown quite rusty over the years, however. That said, I’d suggest “sustolle manus tuas” for “put your hands up in the air” and “insollicite” for the “you don’t care part,” but I’m sure there are better translations than that. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/6 "2008-07-25T14:33:52Z")
[QUOTE=Schnitte] That said, I’d suggest “sustolle manus tuas” for “put your hands up in the air” and “insollicite” for the “you don’t care part,” but I’m sure there are better translations than that. [/QUOTE] _Io, sustolle manus tuas insollicite vero, o!_ Well, it doesn’t rhyme, and iambic tetrameter isn’t exactly the favorite Latin verse form, but I made it scan (but don’t look too closely at the interjections). ETA: I’m also assuming the final I in the second line is long, which may not be a safe assumption. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/7 "2008-07-25T14:40:08Z")
I should have previewed longer. I meant “trochaic” and that “o” in the second line should be at the beginning. But someone will be along to improve on the poem so you can probably ignore it all anyway. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/8 "2008-07-25T22:27:12Z")
My wife suggests this, though won’t vouch for the accuracy of the grammar: _Adleve tuum mani en aeri adsimilis tu es solus indifferens_ Or literally: _Erect your hands in the lower atmosphere as if you are only indifferent._ ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-question/457660/9 "2008-07-25T23:19:01Z")
Non-verse translation (I don’t _do_ verse, I’m a historian!): _Tollite bracchia sub Iove ut nihil moramini_ (Raise your (pl) arms in the open air\* as if you don’t care about anything) - lit ‘under Jupiter’ ie under the realm controlled by Jupiter, the heavens