2006-10-12 14:14:40 · 4 answers · asked by Christi 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
The original, but not really Latin, phrase was "Noli illegitimi carborundum", supposedly made up to sound like a high-class motto for a trade union, but I remember hearing that as a schoolboy joke in the 1950's. It is also found as "Non illegitimi . . ."
A web site reports that General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell quoted it during WWII, but that he had heard it from somewhere else.
"Pax tecum" (pronounced tay-koom) is good Latin for "Peace be with you". The Christian Church and its members would have used this all over Europe for over a thousand years, while Latin was the church's international language. When said to more than one person, it is "pax vobiscum". Yahoo! won't let me show that "tecum" and "vobiscum" are each two separate Latin words, which it just became idiomatic to run into one word.
2006-10-13 02:13:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That is not Latin. Non means not, but the other two words are made up and it doesn't actually mean anything. The others gave you the standard translation, but it isn't real Latin.
2006-10-12 22:56:32 · answer #2 · answered by Jeannie 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The first part translates to "Don't let the bastards grind you down".
2006-10-12 21:22:42 · answer #3 · answered by F. Frederick Skitty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"Don't let the bastards get you down"
2006-10-12 21:22:48 · answer #4 · answered by rockdeboat 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋