# Latinitas non canina? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125 "2020-04-19T14:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/1 "2020-04-19T14:25:58Z")
So, _Harry Potter_ has “Petrificus Totalus” and ilk (according to Tv Tropes, this is popular for exotic-sounding magical or scientific terminology). From the Warhammer thread there are “Adepti Astartes”, one _Liber Medicinalis_ has “abracadabra”, and so on. But the question is, are there any such books where the Latin/Greek/Sanskrit/Irish/Chinese/Hebrew/… spells, names, mottoes, etc. all make perfect sense and are grammatically correct? As a marginal case, we can include cases like Tolkien’s where a language is made up enough to be consistent. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/2 "2020-04-19T15:19:42Z")
The Latin bits in _The Aeneid_ are pretty accurate. Sorry, I’ll see myself out. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/3 "2020-04-19T18:48:38Z")
_Life of Brian_? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/4 "2020-04-19T19:08:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _Life of Brian_? I watched Life of Brian with a group of young Latin teachers. They thought it was very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/5 "2020-04-19T19:35:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _Life of Brian_? Exactly - some of the Pythons were classically educated, and would naturally get the Latin right (Latin awareness was, in my impression, far more extensive in Britain in the 20th century than in the United States, anyway, which is why even children’s games could include Latin puns in the title in Britain, but not the States\*) - What we call “Clue” in the States was “Cluedo” in Britain - because “ludo” is Latin for “I play” (so “Cluedo” is a “I play at clues”, or “a game of clues”) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/6 "2020-04-19T19:39:42Z")
I understand that the Latin in the Discworld books is accurate. (They call it Latatian on the Disc. ) [https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Latatian\_Phrases](https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Latatian_Phrases) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/7 "2020-04-19T19:41:54Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Exactly - some of the Pythons were classically educated, and would naturally get the Latin right (Latin awareness was, in my impression, far more extensive in Britain in the 20th century than in the United States, anyway, which is why even children’s games could include Latin puns in the title in Britain, but not the States\*) > > - What we call “Clue” in the States was “Cluedo” in Britain - because “ludo” is Latin for “I play” (so “Cluedo” is a “I play at clues”, or “a game of clues”) That might be somewhat true, but there is also a game called Ludo which is called Parcheesi in America, so you didn’t actually have to know Latin in Britain to get the pun, whereas the pun wouldn’t have the same weight with most Americans whether or not they knew Latin. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/8 "2020-04-19T19:49:03Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > - What we call “Clue” in the States was “Cluedo” in Britain - because “ludo” is Latin for “I play” (so “Cluedo” is a “I play at clues”, or “a game of clues”) Not quite. Ludo is a board game played in UK, the same game is called [Parcheesi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcheesi)in USA. The name comes from the Latin for\* I play\*. And Cluedo is a pun, a portmanteau of clue and Ludo. You don’t have to know the Latin origin of Ludo to spot the pun. Edit - what Ludovic said. (Hmmm, Ludo + Vic … Is he Reverend Green?) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/9 "2020-04-19T19:54:18Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > That might be somewhat true, but there is also a game called Ludo which is called Parcheesi in America, so you didn’t actually have to know Latin in Britain to get the pun, whereas the pun wouldn’t have the same weight with most Americans whether or not they knew Latin. Ah, I see. Thanks (and thanks to Peter Morris too). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latinitas-non-canina/852125/10 "2020-04-19T20:13:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Edit - what Ludovic said. (Hmmm, Ludo + Vic … Is he Reverend Green?) Heh, I didn’t even know the game existed when I made my user name. I found out in the mid 2000s when someone from another online community gave me a travel version titled “Ludo in a Tin” so we could make “Prince Albert in a Can” jokes about it.