Twerpi Maximi, or how not to write Latin

[fpb]

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c400/aelfinn86/Sig.png

I owe this to vatesudunis, who pointed it out to me for a laugh. As she rightly said, it is clear that the laddies concerned simply raided a Latin dictionary for a few random words and placed them in sequence without any notion that differnet languages might have different grammars - let alone that there is such a thing as inflection. A word of advice to everyone - any time you wish to use a foreign or dead language, just ask for help. The Net is full of people who can help you. But, if you don't, the Net is also full of people who can laugh at you.

Comments

[notebuyer.livejournal.com]

thanks for pointing it out.

Goes along with Illegitimi non carborundum, I suppose.

[(Anonymous)]

As someone whose Latin is woefully restricted to "draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" I have no idea what it actually says. Anyone care to share...?

(Goes back to lurking)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

How do I explain this? It basically says nothing. It is a series of words that do not hang together. It is particularly strange because the first two words, correctly inflected, would form one of the most famous Latin quotations in existence, Vae uictis. (Supposedly spoken by a victorious Gaulish chieftain to a Roman who complained that the Gauls were cheating on the weights to measure their ransom, it means more or less, "If you have been beaten, we can do what we like to you." Inevitably, a Roman general then appears on the scene, leading an army, and trashes the Gauls thoroughly - teaching a lesson in keeping your word.) The other three words cannot be turned into any kind of sentence; the closest you can get to what the twerpi maximi wanted is "pro acolytibus omnia plaudita". As vatesudunis rightly said, the use of "ut" is particularly insane.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, ok. Gobbledegook, then. That I can understand. :-) Babelfish and its ilk have a lot to answer for!

(Really goes back to lurking this time.)

[(Anonymous)]

Once upon a time I tried to translate something into Spanish that way. I didn't have the slightest concept of grammar and syntax varying in different languages.