from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/omnibus.html
Some phrases from Latin for all Occasions, by Henry Beard.
Excuses* My dog ate it.
Canis meus id comedit.
* I did call. Maybe your answering machine is broken.
Sane ego te vocavi. Forsitan capedictum tuum desit.
* Baby, Sweetheart, would I lie to you?
Amicule, deliciae, num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
* The check is in the mail.
Perscriptio in manibus tabellariorum est.
* I was kidnapped by aliens. What year is it?
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt. Qui annus est?
Insults
* I think some people in togas are plotting against me.
Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
* In the good old days, children like you were left to perish on windswept crags.
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
* If Caesar were alive, you'd be chained to an oar.
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
* I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult.
Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione.
Things to Say to a Teenager
* Really Rad, dude!
Radicitus, comes!
* What's happening?
Quid fit?
Latin as a Computer Language
* Why won't you print out?
Cur ullum imprimere non vis?
* Don't you dare erase my hard disk!
Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum!
* I did not commit a fatal error!
Non erravi perniciose!
* Garbage in, garbage out.
Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum.
Bumper Stickers
* I brake for animals
Frena pro feris teneo
* Save the whales
Balaenae nobis conservandae sunt
* Honk if you speak Latin
Sona si latine loqueris
* When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
* If you can read this bumper sticker, you are both very well educated and much too close
Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades
Sounding Smart in Latin
* Listen, would you repeat everything you just told me, only this time say it in English?
Heus, modo itera omnia quae mihi nunc nuper narravisti, sed nunc Anglice?
* Oh! Was I speaking Latin again?
Vah! Denuone Latine loquebar?
* Silly me. Sometimes it just sort of slips out.
Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.
* Sure, I speak a little Latin.
Sane, paululum linguae Latinae dico.
* I picked it up here and there. Really, Latin isn't all that hard.
Id legi modo hic modo illic. Vero, Latine loqui non est difficilissimum.
* It looks like a tricky language, but you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Lingua speciem involutam praebet, sed sat cito eam comprehendes.
* And remember, there aren't any Romans around to correct your pronunciation.
Atque memento, nulli adsunt Romanorum qui locutionem tuam corrigant.
(At a poetry reading)
* It doesn't rhyme.
Nullo metro compositum est.
* I don't care. If it doesn't rhyme, it isn't a poem.
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema.
Summertime
* It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat.
* The designated hitter rule has got to go.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
(At a barbeque)
* Ever noticed how wherever you stand, the smoke goes right into your face?
Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?
* I am not lost.
Neutiquam erro.
* Do I drink this or stick my fingers in it?
Hocine bibo aut in eum digitos insero?
Pithy Latin Expressions
* By that very fact
Ipso facto
* No way
Nullo modo
* Read my lips.
Labra lege.
* A done deal
Pactum factum
* Fat chance
Fors fortis
* Accidentally on purpose
Casu consulto
* In a world of hurt
Totus anctus
* Hopefully
Utinam
Signs of the times ...
* BEWARE OF DOG
CAVE CANEM
* DO NOT DISTURB
NOLI PERTURBARE
* KEEP OUT
NOLI INTRARE
* THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING
TIBI GRATIAS AGIMUS QUOD NIHIL FUMAS
Things you may say a lot ...
* There goes by bleeper!
Tintinnuntius meus sonat!
* Here today, gone tomorrow.
Hodie adsit, cras absit.
* Seen one, seem them all.
Uno viso, omnia visa sunt.
* What goes around, comes around.
Id quot circumiret, circumveniat.
* God, look at the time! My wife will kill me!
Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit!
* I've got to see a man about a dog.
Cum homine de cane debeo congredi.
Handy catch phrases
* Have a nice day.
Die dulci fruimini.
* No way.
Nullo modo.
* Read my lips ...
Labra lege ...
* Accidentally on purpose.
Casu consulto.
* Just do it
Modo fac
* Bah! Humbug!
Phy! Fabulae!
* If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.
* Read 'em and weep.
Lege atque lacrima.
* I have nothing to declare.
Nihil declaro.
* It was that way when I got here.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
A few more essential phrases ...
* Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
Re vera, cara mea, mea nil refert.
* May barbarians invade your personal space!
Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
* May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
* Don't let the bastards wear you down.
Noli nothis permittere te terere.
* Go ahead. Make my day.
Age. Fac ut gaudeam.
* How much wood would a woodchuck chuck is a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
* Beam me up, Scotty!
Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!
* Who was that masked man?
Quis fuit ille personatus?
* Now this isn't carved in stone ...
Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum ...
* Shark! Shark!
Pistrix! Pistrix!
* Your fly is open.
Braccae tuae aperiuntur.
* Why didn't you go when you had the chance?
Cur non isti mictum ex occasione?
* God! Look at the time! My wife will kill me!
Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea necabit!
* Watch where you're going, you jerk!
Observa quo vadis, cinaede!
* The designated hitter rule has got to go.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
* Excuse me. I've got to see a man about a dog.
Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi.
* Darn! There goes my beeper!
"Heu! Tintinnuntius meus sonat.!"
* I think that Elvis is still alive.
Credo Elvem ipsum etian vivere.
* If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.
* You know, the Romans invented the art of love.
Romani quidem artem amatoriam invenerunt.
* Your place or mine?
Apudne te vel me?
* I'll have a pizza with everything on it.
Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo.
* I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.
Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
* How do you get your hair to do that?
Quomodo cogis comas tuas sic videri?
* Bad kitty! Why don't you use the cat box? I put new litter in it.
Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui.
