Expert: Maria - 7/16/2007

Question
Milady Maria,

Thank you, thank you, a thouand times the “- Noli ridère. In hoc tabernaculo
tuae esse possunt filiae?” Was a great sucess!!!

I have a request that I hope you will not find to vulgar.

Among my close friends in The Society for Creative Anachronisms there are
several very skilled armorers and craftsmen who are capable of producing
museum quality work.

A few of these people have been occasionaly blamed for raising the obession
of detail to highly comic levels. (I find myself in this group, alas not so much
for the craftsmanship as for the need to get details right.)

We have swaying that we pass amongst ourselves when someone has
exceeded the usual level of need for perfection.

“Is there a hyphen in  anal-retentive?”

The joke being that even while being chastised the recipient would care that
it was spelled properly.

At one time we had considered creating a coat of arms with just a simple
unadorned hyphen, but few people ever get the joke. A banner to embellish
the arms would be just the thing.

Also while describing your help to a friend at work he told me of another
saying with laughter involved.  He’s been doing a great deal of remoldling at
his house on his own. And running into the usual problems when one is their
own contractor.

Lately his wife has been quoting - “If you can not laugh at yourself, then
somebody else will.” whenever something goes wrong.

He would love to fire that back at her the next time she uses it. (And she will.)

I came up with - Si  nequis risus te, nescio quis volunt.”

I probably haven’t got any of endings right and I can’t make up my mind if it
should be “te” or “tu”.

After talking to you I have decided to enroll in a college course in - “english”

I need a refresher to remember the difference between a participle and a
gerund.  Maybe then I can start to make sense of which ending might be
appropriate. But this is beginning to become fun.

I hope you are well and thank you for your time.

Your Humble Servant
Mark

PS Is there anyway to forward a photograph (computer file) to you? Thought
you might like to see your handiwork in action...

Answer
Hello Mark,

If you want the phrase “If you cannot laugh at yourself, then  somebody else will” translated into Latin, here it is:

“Si te ipsum ridère nequis, alius certe ridèbit”.

As for your translation “Si  nequis risus te, nescio quis volunt”, I’m sorry, but it is absolutely wrong.

Finally I must tell you that in Latin there is no term to translate ‘hyphen’ or ‘anal-retentive’ (or anally retentive, anal retentive) derived from Freudian Psychology to indicate “personality traits, such as meticulousness, avarice, and obstinacy originating in habits, attitudes, or values associated with infantile pleasure in retention of feces”.

Best regards,
Maria

PS. Is there a website where I can see “handiwork in action”?
_________________________________________
GRAMMATICAL BREAKDOWN

-If = SI

-you can not = NEQUIS (from NEQUEO)

-laugh = RIDERE (infinitive, 2nd.conjugation)

-at yourself = TE IPSUM (accusative of TU plus the accusative masculine of the pronoun IPSE)

-then = CERTE

-somebody else = ALIUS (nominative case)

-will (laugh) = RIDEBIT (future of RIDEO)