''Latin for All Occasions'' (''Lingua Latina Occasionibus Omnibus'') is a 1990 book by

Henry Beard Henry Nichols Beard (born June 7, 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine '' National Lampoon'' and the author of several best-selling books. Life and career Beard, a great-grandson of 14th Vice President John C. Bre ...

, and ''Latin for Even More Occasions'' (''Lingua Latina Multo Pluribus Occasionibus'') is a 1991 sequel. Both contain translations of modern English phrases into mostly literal

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

equivalents. Beard is known as a humorist but studied Latin for eight years at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He wrote the Latin himself, but had it checked and polished by scholars

Mark Sugars Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

and

Winifred Lewellen Winifred is a feminine given name, an anglicization of Welsh ''Gwenffrewi'', from ''gwen'', "fair", and ''ffrew'', "stillness". It may refer to: People * Saint Winifred * Winifred Atwell (1914–1983), a pianist who enjoyed great popularity in Bri ...

. The idea for the books was from

John Boswell John Eastburn Boswell (March 20, 1947December 24, 1994) was an American historian and a full professor at Yale University. Many of Boswell's studies focused on the issue of religion and homosexuality, specifically Christianity and homosexuality. ...

. The illustrations are by Mikhail Ivenitsky and both books were published by

Villard Books Villard, also known as Villard Books, is a publishing imprint of Random House, one of the largest publishing companies in the world, owned by Bertelsmann since 1998 and grouped in Penguin Random House since 2013. It was founded in 1983. Villard beg ...

, a division of

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. The translations are mostly direct, so an English expression like "Get your ducks in a row" is translated as ''Anates tuas in acie instrue''. The significance of having ducks lined up would presumably be a mystery to an ancient Roman, or indeed to a non-American.

Sample phrases

*You're fired. ''Ego te demitto.'' *Look out, I'm going to barf! ''Cave, vomiturus sum!'' *Oh! Was I speaking Latin again? ''Vah! Denuone Latine loquebar?'' *Your fly is open. ''Braccae tuae hiant'' *You're beautiful! ''Pulcher es!'' (masculine), ''Pulchra es!'' (feminine) *Honey, I'm home! ''Melita, domi adsum!'' Some of the phrases are not even intended to be helpful, and are included instead purely for the purposes of comedy: *Infernal machine! Give me a beverage or give me back my money! ''Machina improba! Vel mihi ede potum vel mihi redde nummos meos!''

References

* Henry Beard, ''Latin for All Occasions; Villard Books'', 1990, . (Reprinted 2004, Gotham books, .) * Henry Beard, ''Latin for Even More Occasions'', 1991, . 1990 non-fiction books Linguistics books Villard (imprint) books Latin language Books by Henry Beard {{latin-stub