Useful Latin Phrases
(copy-and-pasted from the Internet)
| Amo conventum instituti. — Hannibal |
I love it when a plan comes together. — Hannibal (Smith) |
| Quidquid latine dictum, altum videtur. |
Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound. |
| Sit vis vobiscum. |
May the Force be with you. |
| Quia ursus pusilli ingenii sum verba
difficilia fastidio.
— Winnie ille Pu |
For I am a bear of very little brain,
and long words bother me.
— Winnie the Pooh |
| Proximo satis pro administratio |
Close enough for government work |
| Proximo sed nolo fumigare. |
Close, but no cigar. |
| Sic biscuitus disintegratum. |
That's the way the cookie crumbles. |
| Ceterum censeo Microsoftem delendam esse. |
Apart from that, Microsoft should be destroyed |
| Sanctus fumus! |
Holy smoke! |
Microsoft's newest television advertisement uses the
musical theme of the
"Confutatis Maledictis"
from
Mozart's Requiem. "Where do you want to
go today?" is the cheery line on the screen.
Meanwhile, the chorus sings,
"Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis,"
which translates to:
"The damned and accused are convicted to flames of hell."
Although, as someone has pointed out:
"The entire quotation from the sequentia is:
Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis,
voca me cum benedictis.
"When the damned are being confounded and when they are
being consigned to the sharp flames [the construction
is an ablative absolute], call me among the blessed."
[the imperative is addressed to Christ, of course...]
Now, I doubt that is really the advantage of using
Microsoft, but it is a bit cleverer than you have
given them credit for.
The part we probably all want to quote (with a slight
change) comes later:
Libera me, Domine, de Micromolli aeterno...
(in die illa tremenda quando terra movendi
sunt et caeli):
Free me, Lord, from everlasting Microsoft
[the original Latin is, of course,
de morte aeterna...]
(on that terrible day when the heavens and earth
are to be quaked.)"
