History Main / CanisLatinicus

!!Exampli

!!Examples

** One of the books is titled ''Carpe Jugulum'' ("get the jugular") after the motto of a family of Vampires.

** John Cleese now has a lemur named after him. As far as cuteness goes, he wins.

** In ''InterestingTimes'', we get [[FunWithForeignLanguages 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.'"

But what happens when you run out of Latin? Or if your spell or radioactive element has some attribute that you don't know how to name? Well, just make up some new Latin! It's easy: take an English word -- any will do -- drop any vowels from the end, and add "-us", "-icus", or "ium". If you're naming a town, use the extension "-opolis" (although the extension is actually Greek, not Latin. Real Latin would have you using the extension -ium or -ia). Ta-daa! Instant Latin! This use of Latin, as the trope name should indicate, is called "dog Latin". (Incidentally, the trope title is in fact real Latin...for "Latin dog." No, it doesn't make much sense, but it sounds better than "(Lingua) Latina Canina", which is how "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_latin Dog Latin]]" would sound in ''real'' Latin)

Greek is often used interchangeably with Latin for such purposes (as in the "-opolis" example above); few writers bother to make a distinction. In the last hundred years or so, [[TruthInTelevision few real scientists do either]]. Consequently, a large percentage of real life species names are exemplars of this trope. For example, the swordfish has the scientific name Xiphias gladius (literally, "swordsman" in Greek, followed by "sword" in Latin. Swordsmansword, in other words).

* Many of the episode titles in {{Negima}} are in Latin-ish. However, The original manga [[ShownTheirWork takes care to get all of its Latin, Ancient Greek, and other languages correct]], and has translations and commentary in the Del Ray releases.
* When she was composing a few of the songs for {{ARIA}}, singer/actress Eri Kawai said in an interview that she wrote some of the lyrics using Italian/Latin-sounding gibberish. In particular- Barcarolle, Loomis Etlune, and Coccoro.

[[folder: Comicus Bookus ]]

* Done for laughs in the ''{{Asterix}}'' series, where Roman names are mostly in fake Latin. The Latin ''phrases'' used in ''Asterix'' are legitimate, however, even though a phrase like "cena canis" (dog's dinner) may be identified as "dog Latin" for the sake of the pun.
* The DonaldDuck classic ''The golden helmet'' introduces an alleged lawyer who supports all his claims with Latin-sounding phrases. When challenged to prove that his client is who he says he is, he replies nonchalantly "Flikkus flakkus fumlidium" which he claims to mean "Can you prove he isn't?" And it's catching - later in the story one of Donald's nephews asks the others if they've had enough of this nonsense, to which his brother replies "yeppus yappus yubettus". In Don Rosa's sequel it's Donald who gets the last word (in Dog Latin) when he advises the defeated villains to "in aqua concus dipporum" which he claims to mean "go jump headlong in the sea".
* In the ''[[MadMagazine MAD]]'' parody of ''MarkTrail'', Mark Trade is assigned to hunt down a "Canis Bernardus Saintus." Looking it up, he finds that it means a St. Bernard dog, and can't believe he'd be asked to kill his CanineCompanion Sandy, who is one. He has Sandy stuffed anyway, since there's a $5000 reward.

[[folder:Filmicus ]]

* The mission scene in {{Beavis and Butt-Head}} [[TheMovie Do America]] has background music whose text, the filmscore'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 StonerFlick ''{{J-Men Forever}}'' has the motto of the [[strike:G-Men]] J-Men as "U Cannabis Smokem".

[[folder: Literaturae ]]

* The human faction in ''SwordOfTheStars'' has two mottos. Having barely survived an alien invasion: "Per Ardua Ad Astra," [[spoiler: Through hardship, to the stars]] (a motto adopted in RealLife by the RAF and others). Having built a fleet of warships and re-encountered the aliens that attacked Earth: "Repensum Est Canicula," [[spoiler: Payback is a bitch!]]

* ''TheRedGreenShow'', anyone? "''Quando omni flunkus moritati''" (when all else fails, play dead).

* Before each meeting begins in [[TheRedGreenShow Possum Lodge]], the lodge members sit, stand, salute and state in unison, "Quando omni flunkius, moritati".[[hottip:*:"When all else fails, play dead."]] Then they sit back down.

Greek is often used interchangeably with Latin for such purposes (as in the "-opolis" example above); few writers bother to make a distinction. In the last hundred years or so, [[TruthInTelevision few real scientists do either]]. Consequently, a large percentage of real life species names are exemplars of this trope. For example, the swordfish has the scientific name Xiphias gladius (literally, "sword" in Greek, followed by "sword" in Latin).

** "BiggusDickus?"

* The ''Baldur's Gate'' series:
** Whenever a spell is cast, the caster will chant a distinctive, [[BilingualBonus seemingly nonsensical]], phrase that varies depending on the type of spell. Only, they're actually saying a combination of 3 Latin words that are somewhat related to the type of magic being cast. Saying ''Incertus, pulcher, imperior'', which roughly translates to: "unpredictable, beautiful, power", fits quite well when you're about to sling a fireball into a horde of enemies.
** ''NeverwinterNights'' plays it more straight, spellcasters mutter one of three or four different phrases that don't appear to mean anything. Casting ''Bull's Strength'' and ''Meteor Storm'' you might well get the same chant both times. (Do correct me if I'm wrong.) ''NeverwinterNights2'' uses the same exact incantation soundbites.

Si vats inem, causen dux.''[[http://www.fortibuses.com/]]

* Many of the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons in ''LooneyTunes'' introduce the pair with fake scientific names usually derived in this manner. Examples include ''Speedometrus Rapidus'' for the Roadrunner, and ''Famishus Famishus'' for the Coyote.

* In [[Final Fantasy VIII]], the opening song is called "Liberi Fatali," intended to mean "children of fate" or "fated children." "Liberi" is a nominative plural noun meaning "children," which they got right. "Fatali" is a singular dative/ablative adjective whose root is "fatalis," or "fated," and while the word is right, the case and number are wrong, the proper phrase should be "Liberi Fatales" or "Liberi Fati." [[Word of God]] says that this was an oversight.

** ''TinyToonAdventures'' had one short which introduced Fifi le Fume as "Sexius Skunkus".
Amazing that the censors let that pass...

** 19th-century British chemist Humphry Davy settled first on "alumium," then on "aluminum," for the element he was trying to isolate. TheOtherWiki quotes the ''Quarterly Review'' as being the first to insist on calling in aluminium, "in preference to aluminum, [[RuleOfCool which has a less classical sound]]." But "aluminum" had already taken off in some circles, and today it keeps us SeparatedByACommonLanguage.

** Quoting this stuff is, of course, a favorite past time of the Lawyers Guild and by extension, its head [[AmoralAttorney Mr Slant]]. Amusingly a lot of what he says sounds like compelete nonsense, like citing someone should be released from prison on the grounds of something that translates as "pockets full of fish", but it always has actual precendence in Ankh-Morpork law. (In that case, someone was thrown into a lake, but since their pockets filled with fish, the judge determined that the whole experience had been a net benefit and the thrower could not be prosecuted. SoYeah.)

* Done for laughs in the ''{{Asterix}}'' series, where Roman names are mostly in fake Latin. The Latin ''phrases'' used in ''Asterix'' are legitimate, however, even though phrases involving the word "canis" may be identified as "dog Latin" for the sake of the pun.

* Done for laughs in the ''{{Asterix}}'' series.