Canis Latinicus: Difference between revisions

* The [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Enchanted]]'' makes all her magical incantations in something Latinesque.

* The mission scene in ''[[Beavis and Butthead]] [[The Movie|Do America]]'' has background music whose text, the score's composer admits in a DVD feature (and demonstrates in the manuscript score), runs: "''Scrotum agitato, Ignoramus, Genitilis longuis, Hemorrhidus burnum'' all day long."

* The original version of Disney film ''The Shaggy Dog'' and its sequel ''The Shaggy DA'' had the incantation "in canis corpore transmuto" — which in real Latin would mean "I change into the body of a dog".

* The beginning of the escape sequence from ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'' has one of his [[Mooks]] pretending to be a priest giving him the last rites:

** In ''[[Discworld/Interesting Times|Interesting Times]]'', we get [[Fun with Foreign Languages|a dodgy etymology]] of "teleport": "It comes from ''tele'', meaning 'I see,' and 'porte,' meaning 'to go,' the whole meaning 'I see it's gone.'"

* The poem "[[wikipedia:The Motor Bus|The Motor Bus]]" by A.D. Godley declines "motor bus" in every possible way as if it actually were a Latin noun phrase. Which, technically, it ''is'', except bus is a contraction of "omnibus", which is dative plural already—the nominative singular would be "omnis". Chalk it up to poetic license.

** ''Caves of Ice'' takes place on the [[Single Biome Planet|frozen planet]] of Simia Orichalchae (which roughly translates as "brass monkey", as in "cold enough to freeze the balls off..."). There's also a reference to the planet Nusquam Fundumentibus ("arse end of nowhere").

** ''Duty Calls'' takes place on Periremunda ("lost world") and includes a plateau named Aceralbaterra, which translates as Maple White Land, [[Genius Bonus|the name of the plateau in]] [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''[[The Lost World (novel)|The Lost World]]''. Bonus points because after being discovered by Acer Alba, Periremunda was rediscovered by "Magos Provocare," a name that could be rendered as "Professor Challenger."

 

== TABLETOPIVM GAMEAE ==

** Some examples include the Administratum, the Ecclesiarchy (priests), the Senatorum Imperialis, Departmento Munitorum (Military command & logistics) and Adeptus Mechanicus. Place names show this too, along with what seems to be a healthy dose of gallows humour among the harried explorers and colonists who found themselves stuck on the nastier ones in ancient times. Examples include the ice worlds Simia Orichalchae and Nusquam Fundumentibus (respectively, Dog Latin for "Brass Monkey" and "Arse End of Nowhere").

** Not all of the examples go down quite so easy, though — there are Astra Militarum (aka Imperial Guard), the Adeptus Astartes ([[Space Marine]]s). Then there are the Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition, such as Ordo Hereticus, and Ordo Xenos (hunting heresy and aliens respectively), Ordo Excorium - (oversees [[It's the Only Way to Be Sure|Exterminatus]]), Ordo Redactus (censorship), and so on - and then there's Ordo Malleus, ostensibly named after "hammer"; the non-indicative name allowed to hide its true purpose, but it's also a reference to ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' (the Hammer of the Witches), even though "Witchhunters" are Ordo Hereticus. Orders of Adepta Sororitas (nun sisterhoods) themselves are named colloquially (and even tastefully), but ''main types of'' those Orders are Militant, Hospitaller (medics), Dialogous (linguists and translators) and Famulous (diplomats and advisors).

*** Interstingly in the German version of the game, the name of the Lancea Sancta is spelled correctly, ie Lancea Sancta. So no need for a justification. This could be due to the fact that Latin classes are still quite common in German High Schools so chances are high that one of the translators knew his Latin.

** "Ordo Dracul" is stranger still: ''Dracul'' is not Latin, but ''Romanian'' for "the dragon" or "the devil"; the ''-ul'' ending translates as the article "the".

** The original "Monster Manual" included Dog Latin versions of taxonomic names for its ten varieties of dragon (genus ''Draco''). Some of these were puns, particularly the ''Draco Comes Stabuli'', the "constable" [[Don't Explain the Joke|or "copper"]] dragon.

** The third edition undead manual is called ''Libris Mortis'', a name which sounds pretty good, but doesn't actually work because of the similarity of the words for "book" and "free". ''Liber Mortis'' would be ''Book of the Dead,'' but ''Libris Mortis'' works out to "of the Dead Book". The much of the community even calls it the "Book of Bad Latin"

 

 

* In the ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'' universe, all the Covenant species, in addition to having a nickname (e.g., "Elites") and a formal name ("Sangheili"), also have a faux-Latin scientific name ("Macto cognatus"). You can read all the names and the meanings behind them in [http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive29.pl?read=865756 this forum post].

* The names of the skills in ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'' have dog-Latin translations.

* ''[[Lost]]: Via Domus'' is an egregious example. In the game, Locke translates the [[Title Drop]] as "The Way Home," which is apparently what the game creators meant, except that it would be Via Domum. This is actually pretty funny when you realize that it's the same mistake as in ''Life of Brian'' above. Most people just call it ''Lost: The Game'' though, because that's funny too.

* There's an online game called ''Gladiatus: Hero of Rome''. It ([[Did Not Do the Research|ostensibly]]) involves playing as a Gladiator in Ancient Rome. The title is nothing short of weird, considering it seems to be a "Latinized" version of the word "gladiator." Especially considering that the Latin word for "gladiator" is, (surprise!) "gladiator". While ''gladiator'' essentially means ''sword-user'' (swordsman), ''gladiatus'' would be closer to ''someone on whom a sword is used'', [[Ironic Name|which fits, but probably not in the way they were hoping]].