Any hints of Incredibly Lame Pun or other problems?

So there's a few things in my story that are intended to be a sort of Genius Bonus that also provides some additional forshadowing. I just want to be sure that a majority of people don't 'get' it right away, or it'll lose it's impact.

• A villian creates a false identity to bring down the heroes. They are called 'Mia Tulpa'
  • Please let me know whether you immediately understand this, or when you do understand it, you immediately groan

Also, I've also taken some inspiration from Gnostism in naming the major deity of the main religion in my work. They refer to it as 'Aeon.' I want to ensure this won't be too distracting, (because it had little to do with the plot in general) but it could happen if people make the connection. This could end up as an unintentional Red Herring, which I don't want it to.

• So everyone, any tips for writing Genius Bonus -es while esuring that A)Someone out there actually understands it B) It's not simple to the point that the readers are offended

edited 4th Mar '13 12:46:22 PM by TheMuse

Definite shades of "mia culpa" - "my mistake" but with "tulpa", a Sanskrit word meaning "to build" and mystical undertones of creating something from thought alone.

The closeness to "mia culpa" I did find a trifle "groan-worthy" but since I'm prone to making incredibly bad puns myself, I'm probably just being a hypocrite.

But is the phrase 'mia culpa' common enough that the 'average person' with the 'average' amount of knowledge of the Latin language would consider it almost a 'cliche?'

It is common enough, yes (although it would be mea culpa, not mia culpa). The culpa is the root of the word culpability, if I remember correctly.

"..."

I've certainly heard it enough on TV shows and movies to know what it means (but not how it's spelled, evidently )

And the only Latin I know is made up of common phrases still used today, such as "ad hoc" and "ad nauseum" etc (and etcetera, for that matter), contaminated slightly by Terry Pratchett's mangling of the language such as "sodomy non sapiens" and "mortis tackularum portalis" for "buggered if I know" and "dead as a door-nail".

I wouldn't count myself particularly knowledgeable of Latin.

edited 4th Mar '13 2:17:03 PM by Wolf1066

Mea culpa is as well known as de facto and ad hominem so yeah people would know that.

I like puns.