Unclear Description (description crowner 6/6/19): Altum Videtur

I can't tell what this trope is actually about. The description is meandering and doesn't seem to have much to do with what the trope is supposed to be about getting across to the reader. The only concrete piece of information I can get about the trope itself is that 'Latin shows up a lot in fiction, probably because writers think it's cool for one of various vague reasons.' Or is that the entirety of it?

The name is also not immediately understandable, which is acknowledged by the page quote having to explain what it even means.

This page seems to need some serious description rework and possibly a new name to clear things up.

Someone thought it was clever to use Latinate words in the description at the expense of clarity and proper English syntax. Or they were EL Ls and had no idea what they were writing. The description definitely needs to be revised...

I was thinking it might well need a new name and a new description. I can't tell what it's about and the name is in a foreign language that is not exactly widely spoken or anything.

"Altum videtur" literally means, "seems lofty", so whatever is said in Latin seems lofty or higher.

I feel that this trope is a subtrope of Gratuitous Foreign Language, in which Latin is used for no reason other than to make something sound more impressive or exotic.

I can agree that the trope description is WAY longer than it should be and needs to get to the point.

Edited by reppuzan on Jul 10th 2018 at 2:29:27 PM

Gratuitous Latin is already a redirect. Should that perhaps be made the main title?

I'd be okay with Gratuitous Latin being the trope name.

Gratuitous Latin is a better name if that's what the trope is. We already use that naming scheme for Latin's descendants.

I agree with that idea. Then we just need to clean up the description. The general idea is that Latin is used to sound more important and classy, right?

Gratuitous Latin

Agreed. I actually think the quote is good if combined with a more indicative name.

Rename to Gratuitous Latin.

rename

Yes, a rename to Gratuitous Latin is supported by me. The trope name "Altum Videtur" is in a foreign language, (which is usually bad), and it is very hard to spell.

Edited by Playing_with_boy on Jul 31st 2018 at 8:30:28 AM

Seems like there's a consensus about what to do here. Can we move forward on this?

I also agree with renaming it to Gratuitous Latin, by the way. I don't think I mentioned that before.

Im good with renaming it to Gratuitous Latin as well.

Gratuitous Latin

I don't know why do we put "gratuitous" foreign language tropes, and how it became a thing. I found out that the synonyms for the word are "uncalled for, unnecessary, or freely given."

Considering the fact that Latin is essentially a dead language at this point, the use of "gratuitous" is apt. There's pretty much no reason for a creator to use Latin in works nowadays, with few exceptions (e.g. theological works, philosophical tracts, etc.). It's pretty much just to "sound smart" or to show off to the audience.

Any trope about ostensibly gratuitous things usually decays into "this thing exists", if it had a definition other than that to begin with.

Is that true for Gratuitous Foreign Language tropes though? I haven't really seen much misuse there. For any language, throwing random foreign words into a sentence is an impediment to clarity and communication, so it's gratuitous and unnecessary in that sense.

This thread is getting off-topic - any more votes for Gratuitous Latin?

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