Latin America?
January 2, 2018 11:59 PM Subscribe
For one, California: Ubi secedere possumus? "When can we secede?" For another: Wisconsin. Caeseum, cervesa, farcimen. "Cheese, beer, sausage."
For a third: Tennessee. Cantator in omnibus tabernis. "A musician in every bar."
Sine umbraculis
Can confirm, this is a culturally central fact.
posted by heyforfour at 12:24 AM on January 3, 2018
Can confirm, this is a culturally central fact.
posted by heyforfour at 12:24 AM on January 3, 2018
Ubi secedere possumus? "When can we secede?"
But "ubi" is "where" not "when", isn't it?
See Alabama.
posted by sour cream at 1:48 AM on January 3, 2018
But "ubi" is "where" not "when", isn't it?
See Alabama.
posted by sour cream at 1:48 AM on January 3, 2018
Minnesota
Aestates caldissimae, hiemes frigidissimae
Aedes re publica avis est would also have worked.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 2:28 AM on January 3, 2018
Aestates caldissimae, hiemes frigidissimae
Aedes re publica avis est would also have worked.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 2:28 AM on January 3, 2018
I love this so so so much.
posted by batter_my_heart at 2:45 AM on January 3, 2018
posted by batter_my_heart at 2:45 AM on January 3, 2018
Florida
Wingardium Leviosa
Their plan to avoid becoming Venice.
I don't know Latin.
posted by adept256 at 3:08 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wingardium Leviosa
Their plan to avoid becoming Venice.
I don't know Latin.
posted by adept256 at 3:08 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
But "ubi" is "where" not "when", isn't it?
I was under the impression that it is sometimes used to mean "when." (As based on half-remembered, middle school levels of Latin.) I cannot assess the accuracy of its use here, though. (See previous parenthetical.)
Either way, I enjoyed the list!
posted by desert outpost at 3:30 AM on January 3, 2018
I was under the impression that it is sometimes used to mean "when." (As based on half-remembered, middle school levels of Latin.) I cannot assess the accuracy of its use here, though. (See previous parenthetical.)
Either way, I enjoyed the list!
posted by desert outpost at 3:30 AM on January 3, 2018
But "ubi" is "where" not "when", isn't it?
Usually, true, but it can be either, depending on circumstance. The problem here is that in an interrogative, ubi must refer to place. It can work in this motto, but the meaning is along the lines of "under what circumstances". If the intended sense was temporal, the author should have gone with quando. So says the Oxford Latin Dictionary. If others have other contrary sources, I would be glad to see them.
posted by BWA at 5:26 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Usually, true, but it can be either, depending on circumstance. The problem here is that in an interrogative, ubi must refer to place. It can work in this motto, but the meaning is along the lines of "under what circumstances". If the intended sense was temporal, the author should have gone with quando. So says the Oxford Latin Dictionary. If others have other contrary sources, I would be glad to see them.
posted by BWA at 5:26 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I can live with cheese and sausage.
posted by drezdn at 6:07 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 6:07 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Aedes re publica avis est would also have worked.
google translate turns that into "The State bird house". But if you reverse it and put in mosquito comes out "culex"
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:22 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
google translate turns that into "The State bird house". But if you reverse it and put in mosquito comes out "culex"
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:22 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ohio
Nostra flumina non iam ardent
“Our rivers no longer catch on fire”
McSweeney's
Nos postulo novum scribo iocus circa Ohio
"We need to write a new joke about Ohio"
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:30 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nostra flumina non iam ardent
“Our rivers no longer catch on fire”
McSweeney's
Nos postulo novum scribo iocus circa Ohio
"We need to write a new joke about Ohio"
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:30 AM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm glad that NC's completely denies the existence of WNC barbecue.
Which is entirely correct.
posted by thivaia at 6:34 AM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Which is entirely correct.
posted by thivaia at 6:34 AM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
People called Americans they go to the house?
posted by DreamerFi at 7:01 AM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by DreamerFi at 7:01 AM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
[Not a state] Chicago: Ubi est mea? ("Where's mine?" according to Mike Royko.)
posted by lagomorphius at 7:07 AM on January 3, 2018
posted by lagomorphius at 7:07 AM on January 3, 2018
North Carolina
Nihil carnum fumosorum sine acido
“No barbecue without vinegar”
I'm married to a North Carolinian and this is actually perfect
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:08 AM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Nihil carnum fumosorum sine acido
“No barbecue without vinegar”
I'm married to a North Carolinian and this is actually perfect
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:08 AM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I cannot pass a state motto conversation without thinking of this honest-to-god-true story. It is my favorite state motto story and it's so funny it sounds like an urban legend but it's not and I can prove it.
In 2005, New Mexico state senator Joe Carraro (R-23) introduced a bill that would update the state's motto from "crescit eundo" ("it grows as it goes") to "antiqua suspice, crastina accipe" ("respect the past, embrace the future"). Not a bad suggestion for a state with a long history and eyes on the future, right?
The bill's first stop was the Senate Public Affairs committee. That committee deliberated, as committees do, and ultimately referred it to the Finance committee, recommending passage with an amendment. That amendment? Removing Senator Carraro's suggestion for a new motto and replacing it with "Gracias a dios por Mississippi" ("Thank God for Mississippi"). Seriously.
Poor Senator Carraro had to run around and get the Finance committee to undo the Public Affairs committee's amendment (which they ultimately did), before the bill died before the full senate anyway. It's not clear to me if it ever came to a vote.
posted by nickmark at 8:03 AM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
In 2005, New Mexico state senator Joe Carraro (R-23) introduced a bill that would update the state's motto from "crescit eundo" ("it grows as it goes") to "antiqua suspice, crastina accipe" ("respect the past, embrace the future"). Not a bad suggestion for a state with a long history and eyes on the future, right?
The bill's first stop was the Senate Public Affairs committee. That committee deliberated, as committees do, and ultimately referred it to the Finance committee, recommending passage with an amendment. That amendment? Removing Senator Carraro's suggestion for a new motto and replacing it with "Gracias a dios por Mississippi" ("Thank God for Mississippi"). Seriously.
Poor Senator Carraro had to run around and get the Finance committee to undo the Public Affairs committee's amendment (which they ultimately did), before the bill died before the full senate anyway. It's not clear to me if it ever came to a vote.
posted by nickmark at 8:03 AM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
For Arizona: Yeah, easy joke as expected.
I will take the opportunity to reference the contest we had a while back for a new license plate slogan (to replace "The Grand Canyon State." The rule was it had to be six or fewer words, and my personal favorite was "It's Not All Like Yuma."
posted by Four Ds at 8:15 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I will take the opportunity to reference the contest we had a while back for a new license plate slogan (to replace "The Grand Canyon State." The rule was it had to be six or fewer words, and my personal favorite was "It's Not All Like Yuma."
posted by Four Ds at 8:15 AM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Missed opportunity with New York, where "Scissus nimis excelsa est" is the true unofficial state motto.
posted by skoosh at 8:19 AM on January 3, 2018
posted by skoosh at 8:19 AM on January 3, 2018
Motto Latin is almost always garbage, so errors in grammar and vocab arguably are true to the thing being parodied.
So, in the spirit of hypocrisy, I'm going to complain that "lunae melles" should probably "lunae mellis". In the phrase "luna mellis" -- i.e., "moon of honey" -- , "mel" is a genitive noun and therefore doesn't decline to agree with "luna" when the latter becomes plural.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:43 AM on January 3, 2018
So, in the spirit of hypocrisy, I'm going to complain that "lunae melles" should probably "lunae mellis". In the phrase "luna mellis" -- i.e., "moon of honey" -- , "mel" is a genitive noun and therefore doesn't decline to agree with "luna" when the latter becomes plural.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:43 AM on January 3, 2018
Virginia
Ecce, omnes, intecta femina in vexillia picta est
“Check it out, everyone, a naked lady is on our flag”
FACT CHECK: She's not naked, she just has one breast bared.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:53 PM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ecce, omnes, intecta femina in vexillia picta est
“Check it out, everyone, a naked lady is on our flag”
FACT CHECK: She's not naked, she just has one breast bared.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:53 PM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ab his litoribus Russiam videmus
“From these shores we see Russia”
Oh, ha! So funny that it's still fresh TEN FUCKING YEARS AFTER IT WAS SAID. Can we move on to another joke about Alaska, like how about our sky-high rates of chlamydia?
posted by Foam Pants at 11:31 PM on January 4, 2018
“From these shores we see Russia”
Oh, ha! So funny that it's still fresh TEN FUCKING YEARS AFTER IT WAS SAID. Can we move on to another joke about Alaska, like how about our sky-high rates of chlamydia?
posted by Foam Pants at 11:31 PM on January 4, 2018
Come on, you had to find something new for South Carolina?
Seems the actual motto says the same thing just fine:
posted by ElGuapo at 7:00 PM on January 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Memento semper victos belli civilis
Always remember the losers of the Civil War
Seems the actual motto says the same thing just fine:
Dum spiro, spero
While I breathe, I hope
posted by ElGuapo at 7:00 PM on January 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
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Nostri equi sunt celeres, nostrum temetum forte
“Our horses are fast, our liquor strong”
That's really just a Latinised (and slightly dumbed-down) version of the state's real motto: "Unbridled Spirit".
posted by Paul Slade at 12:23 AM on January 3, 2018 [14 favorites]