Friday, December 03, 2010

People Called Dennis Roddy, They Go the Houses?

Looks like someone didn't have their knuckles wrapped hard enough by the nuns:

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- Police are searching for a vandal who knows Latin -- or at least one famous phrase of the language -- after about a dozen cars were damaged at a Fayette County car dealership.

Uniontown police say nearly two dozen tires were slashed and about a dozen cars had their paint scratched with a key or another sharp object Monday at Five Corners Auto.

The scratching on one of the cars spelled out "Nemo me inpune lacessit." The phrase means "No one attacks me with impunity."
Actually, the phrase is ""Nemo me impune lacessit." "Nemo me inpune lacessit" would mean "I have a small computer animated fish that needs it's shoes tied." That doesn't make any sense.

The quotation, in fact, comes from Edgar Allan Poe's classic horror story "The Cask of Amontillado." It is the family crest of Fortunato, the unfortunate victim of revenge by his neighbor, Montressor. The narrator lures the drunken Fortunato to the basement of his Italian villa during carnival where he chains him to a wall that he then bricks shut, leaving the man to die in the darkness.
OR, if you're historically literate....

It's the the Latin motto of the Order of the Thistle and of three Scottish regiments of the British Army, and has been used by the British Monarch in Scotland since at least 1707, predating the use by Poe by about 150 +/- years. And who am I to question the Queen of England? The "me" in the phrase refers to the prickly thistle, the emblem of Scotland. No words if vandals' attack was on a Toyota Highlander.

Alternatively, and ironically for the vandals, the phrase can be translated into English as "No one can harm me unpunished."

---
My family Latin motto is slightly longer:
O Sibili, se ergo,
Fortebus es inero.
O Nobili, demis trux
Si vatsinum, causan dux.

5 comments:

The Diabetic Sock Store said...

This just sucks. I hate this site. This post is awful. Stop sharing this crappy stuff. You are so not welcome. Just wanted to let you know.

O said...

That's the best spam comment I've gotten so far. I'll leave it up in hopes of getting more.

Sherry Pasquarello said...

geeeezzz

Bram Reichbaum said...

Who knew Dennis Roddy sold medical supplies?

MattDC said...

In response to Diabetic Sock, I was just about to post a compliment. Oh well, De gustibus non est disputandem.