I did most of this one in November, so I might as well post it

[quislibet]

Latin for Gamers: Intertextuality

Gamer-speak is very allusive (like the language of the Tamarians). The habit of quoting (or misquoting) poignant lines from (un)pop-cultural sources is found as much around the gaming table as it is in any other moment in a gamer's life (if there are others). It enables the gamer to participate in the rich cultural heritage of dorkdom, to display competitively his or her vast knowledge of this heritage, and to fill up gaps in conversation when an original thought simply will not do.

So we'd better translate some of these puppies into Latin. I have had to be highly selective; I could do an entire installment, no doubt, with quotations from just Star Wars or Monty Python, but I think we all get enough of that as it is. In a few cases I had to make sure of the exact wording of the originals -- and that, my friends, is what the internet is for.

In one instance I have "translated" a line from Star Wars with a line from the Heautontimoroumenos. How cool is that?

It's only a flesh wound.
Leve vulnus tantum in carne accepi.

Look at the bones!
Ecce adspicite ossia!

Have fun storming the castle!
Fruamini expugnando castello!

I never drink ... wine.
Numquam bibo ... vinum.

No, Luke, I am your father!
Minime, Luci! Ego sum pater tuus!

Today is a good day to die.
Hodiernus dies aptus est ad moriendum.

I attack the darkness!
Tenebras oppugno!

You have chosen wisely.
Sapienter elegisti.

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.
Opprimere hostes, videre eos ante te agi, audire lamentationes mulierum.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Numquam invenies latibulum abiectius sentinae nequitiaeque.

Spoooooooon!
Cooooooooochleare!

There is no spoon.
Cochleare non est.

I'll be back.
Reveniam.

I have a cunning plan.
Est mihi callidum consilium

I've got a bad feeling about this.
Nescio quid profecto mi animus praesagit mali.

I see you shiver with antici - pation.
Vos video horrentes ob exspecta - tionem.

Laugh it up, fuzzball!
Perride, lanate!

Daddy needs a new Sword of Wounding!
Tata eget gladio novo incantato ad vulnerandum!

He's dead, Jim.
Mortuus est, Jacobe.

My Precioussss!
Pretiosisssssimum!

Don't speak Latin in front of the books, Xander.
Noli latine loqui libros coram, Alexander.

Comments

[lilithraevyn.livejournal.com]

Another one for my memories!

[mrcorvin.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is, I think after that happened, some DM's actually used "the darkness" as an enemy.

White Wolf Report

"I ATTACK THE DARKNESS!"

Members of the band The Darkness were brutally attacked by a crazed D&D Gamer and were bludgeoned with PCP Pipe swords and bags of bird seed.

[clayrobeson.livejournal.com]

You're my hero.

Re: Help, I fell into the LJ pit...

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

I like "Elvides," too, although "Elves" is possible if potentially misleading. "Elvi" is right out, of course.

[jdm314.livejournal.com]

I love it!

Of course I've done my own attempts at a few of those, so I lose some honor points by enjoying your translations ;) The only one I really wanted to comment on, though, was this:

No, Luke, I am your father!
Minime, Luci! Ego sum pater tuus!

I traditionally perform this scene in Latin for my students (complete with silly voices), and it never fails to get applause. The only difference in my translation is: Immo, Luca. Immo means roughly "on the contrary," so it works well here. And of course the English lame Luke is directly equivalent to the Greco-Latin Lucas (which has the added benefit of also being the surname of a certain Georgius).

I attack the darkness!
Tenebras oppugno!

To be honest, I don't recognize this one. But it does remind me of an exchange from one Tracy Hickman's Killer Breakfast I took part in:

Player: I hide in the shadows.
Hickman: OK. [Pregnant pause.] The shadows attack.

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

What is your dissertation topic? If it's not related to gaming you have truly missed your calling.

I have recently been inspired by a business administration doctoral dissertation that used wizards and dragons as metaphors for interdepartmental dynamics in IT organisations, so now I think everyone's doctoral dissertation should have a fantasy component. But especially yours.

[jdm314.livejournal.com]

I should add the following (translation by kturtle):

Totus tuus basis sunt esse nostri!
All your base are belong to us!

The problem with this version is that it looks more like a bad an literal translation of the English phrase, rather than an even worse and non-literal translation of the original Japanese.

[juniperus.livejournal.com]

vis vobiscum!

[redmagpie.livejournal.com]

Don't speak Latin in front of the books, Xander.
Noli latine loqui libros coram, Alexander.

I just used this line (in English, and without the 'Xander') as the header for a section of one of my syllabi; I'm not sure whether to be disappointed that I didn't think to use the Latin or pleased that it's a line worth including on this list. I'll have to remain resolutely ambivalent.

[medlir.livejournal.com]

I attack the darkness! is from a Dungeons and Dragons comedy bit done by the Dead Alewives, which you can downloaded from their site here:

http://www.deadalewives.com/funny.ccc

There's also a part 2 to the D&D bit, but it doesn't seem to be on their page. Can probably find it on file-sharing services though, they say to on their order page. :D

It was also turned into a video called Summoner Geeks, which can be watched here:

http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=220487

:)

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

*falls over laughing*

I was just commenting the other day how someone needs to produce a Cartoonist's and Gamer's Guide to Latin. It's pathetic how they are drawn in by disjointed Latin caveman babble like "usque noctem" and the like, they need resources to expand their vocabulary and their minds! This could even serve to lure them into the cult known as Classical Studies.

[labyrinthman.livejournal.com]

You sir, rock the house. :)

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

That's kinkyturtle.

[jdm314.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell, and I thought I checked that too. Actually I was looking at the URL of your webpage (http://www.conmicro.cx/~kturtle/). Sorry.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

"Immo Luca" is indeed better! Although I'd have been happy to stick with the less-near equivalent "Lucius" but for George.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

Mine (on the portrayal of women in the works of Tacitus) is pretty much fantasy-free, or at least that's the goal. But I do see occasional works of scholarship with some rather imaginative ideas.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

Et cum spiritu tuo!

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if the quote has really attained the legendary status of some of the rest, but I couldn't NOT include it.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

On the gamers' side at least I have long thought so, too. (http://www.geocities.com/quislibet2003/gamers/)

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

I almost did the second one for this list:

Nomen mihi Inigo Montoya. Patrem meum interfecisti. Pare te ad moriendum.

Probably there's a more Latinate way to do the name.

As for the first, something like:

Illud verbum dictitas. Non puto id significare quod tu putas id significare.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

Ecce!

[sammix.livejournal.com]

Bonus! Altea iuvenis qui vocet latinam! (Forgive me, Meus Latinus Malus est in hoc diis?)

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

*bookmarks that to refer the ignorant to*

I had wondered why so many folks seemed to prefer "noctem" to the other cases of nox, and now I know that too ;)

[ischade.livejournal.com]

*laughs* So nice to see that someone, well, many someone's think about this sort of thing! Many thanks. ^_^

[uruz.livejournal.com]

You made a Tamarian reference. You are my idol.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

I fear I must admit I couldn't remember the name of the race and had to look it up, though. No doubt this diminishes my idol status, but I can't live a lie.

I think it's cool that Picard reads the Homeric Hymns in that one!

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. Reminds me of when Christina and I did the X-Men;s characteristic phrases ("I'm the best there is at what I do", "My power s a song within me") in Spanish, for the hell of it..