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Gratuitous Latin
aka: Altum Videtur

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"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur."translation

Describere Gratuitum Latin hic.

Latin carries an implication of importance, classiness and mysticism. Despite being a dead language,note  it retains an association with magic, religion, politics and science. It is the language of those who know secrets and have uncovered ancient mysteries, and creators use it (or something that sounds like it) for those associations.

The Latin Language is still taught and utilized for many people and it's the root of numerous living languages today, making it both accessible for creators/audiences and maintaining the connotations with magic (Stage Magicians using pseudo-Latin incantations like "hocus pocus"), religion (Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church), law and debate (e.g. legal terms such as "habeas corpus" are in Latin, argumentation tropes and logical fallacies have Latin names), schools and school-based organizations choosing a Pretentious Latin Motto, and science (the tradition of Greco-Romanism is most exemplified in the field of taxonomy). As such, many writers are fond of inserting Latin into their stories for any number of reasons. The fact that it may not really fit in or seem out of place isn't really relevant: Frankly, it just sounds cool.

This is a Sub-Trope to Gratuitous Foreign Language, where creators include foreign words (and close-enough foreign words) for a variety of reasons.note  For help in parsing some of the Latin present in examples, please read the Latin Pronunciation Guide. See also Profound by Pop Song.

Sub-tropes:

Exempla linguae Latinae gratuitae in fictione:

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    Anime & Manga (Mangae Et Picturae Animatae Nipponenses) 
  • Simoun features a small dictionary worth of Latin and Latin-sounding terms to designate various technologies and concepts: from the deity Tempus Spatium ("Time Space"); through country names Simulacrum ("likeness, similarity"), Argentum ("silver"), and Plumbum ("lead"); to pilot roles auriga ("charioteer", the primary pilot) and sagitta ("arrow", the navigator and gun controller). These last two terms are also constellations, for additional Theme Naming fun.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • The spells and attack names that aren't in Japanese are generally in Latin, sometimes Greek (and once or twice Sanskrit). As an example, the incantation for one of Negi's favorite attack spells:
      Negi: "Veniant Spiritus Aeriales Fulgurientes! Cum Fulguratione Flet Tempestas Austrina! Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens!" Lat.
    • The English translation of the manga uses the Latin subtitle "Magister Negi Magi," with magister magi having a rather convenient double meaning as either "magic teacher" or "master of magic" — both of which describe him quite well.(Amusingly, it is also exactly the double meaning implicit in the original Japanese word "Sensei".)
  • In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Enrico Pucci drops a Latin phrase in the midst of his fight with Weather Report.
    Pucci: Humans must strive to reach the gates of Heaven and the one who is the first to find it will be able to lead all of mankind to it. Domine quo vadis? (where are you going) To be crucified, now die for your sins!
  • In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, they bring us the "Memento Mori" — "Remember you will die". It's a Kill Sat that royally messes up the Middle East before it is destroyed, along with its commander. The Innovators have another, just in case.
  • In Puella Magi Madoka Magica,Lat. the terms "Magical Girl" and "Puella Magi" are used interchangeably, for good reason. PuellaLat. also may additionally mean "a young slave" due to it being derived from Puerulus. MagiLat. can also mean derogatorily, "charlatan", which means "one who deceives". Applying this terminology, the Latin title actually averts Department of Redundancy Department: the real English title to the anime is actually Slave to the Deceiver: Magician Madoka. The Japanese title, however, averts the Latin title altogether*. Still, either way, it's certainly an example of gratuitous Latin (although Latin isn't the only language this anime brings in, for obvious reasons).
    • The titles of the series' music are all in Latin as well, although they did screw up one title: "Nux Walpurgis" was probably meant to be "Nox Walpurgis". That one letter is the difference between "Walpurgis Night" (the name of the final and most powerful Witch) and "Walpurgis Nut" (which doesn't make any sense). However, this could possibly be a reference to Homura's witch form, Homulilly being titled "The Nutcracker Witch", as Walpurgis Night was the one witch she could never defeat, or the "nut" she couldn't "crack".
  • Future Diary combines this with Theme Naming — the first opening lists off the Dii Consentes, the twelve Roman gods and goddesses that were considered to be the highest deities. Each Diary keeper is named after one of them, adding Bacchus for John Balks, the Eleventh.
  • In Black Clover, most of Fuegoleon's Flame Magic spells are Latin, like Leo Rugiens, Latin for lion roaring, and Ignis Columna, fire column in Latin. Most of his older sister Mereoleona's spells' names include "Calidos Brachium", which is Latin for "fiery arm".
  • In Death Parade, the recurring characters who work in the afterlife all have Latin names. While most of the low-ranking characters are named after the floor they work on, some of them have names that relate to their jobs in different ways or are simply symbolic.

    Comic Books (Librī Comicōrum) 
  • Asterix has lots of gratuitous Latin phrases, mostly in the form of classical proverbs. Canis Latinicus is averted except in names.
  • Watchmen uses "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" which means "who will watch the watchmen themselves?" and is generally translated as "Who watches the watchmen?"
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe:
    • In Carl Barks' classic "The Golden Helmet", Donald Duck runs afowl of a dubious lawyer who goes around spouting mock Latin phrases like "Flickus flackus fumlidium" (allegedly meaning "Can you prove that [my client] isn't who he claims to be?") At the end of the story Huey declares that they have had enough nonsense, to which Dewey answers with the obvious affirmative "Yeppus yappus youbettus!"
    • Later Don Rosa wrote a sequel, "The Lost Charts of Columbus", where Donald finally got the chance to tell the lawyer and his client "Aqua concus dipporum" ("Go soak your head").
  • JLA (1997): In Earth Two, when the Flash asks about the Crime Syndicate's motto "Cui Bono," the good Lex Luthor from the evil universe naturally knows it means "Who profits?" which prompts him to begin wondering who could profit from their current predicament his train of thought is cut short by an attack the not-so-enslaved-as-we-thought Brainiac who realizes that Lex is about to figure out what he's up to.
  • Most of the albums in the Druuna series are subtitled with Latin terms: Morbus Gravis, Creatura, Carnivora, Mandrogora, Aphrodisia, and Anima.
  • The Transformers (Marvel): Optimus Prime was the only character of the first few years to have a Latin name - which made him stick out, being the leader and all. According to Bob Budiansky, Optimus was also one of the only characters he didn't name. Apparently, Hasbro was fond of the convention, and would often request "Optimus-style" names, which often ventured into Canis Latinicus territory (Bruticus, Fortress Maximus, Ultra Magnus...). It still seems to be a popular way to make a character pop out; about half the Thirteen have Latin-sounding names.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Etta Candy's sorority name was written as "Beeta Lamda" by the girls on banners in universe, whether or not they were aware it would be more properly spelt as Beta Lambda is unknown as they usually just refereed to themselves as the Holliday Girls.
    • Wonder Woman (1942): Hippolyta shouts "Venus Nobiscum" when leading the Amazons into battle against the Uranians. This doubles as a shout out to a book by the then recently deceased former writer on the book and creator of Wonder Woman William Marston who wrote a book by that title.

    Comic Strips (Comicōrum Acta Diurna) 
  • Peanuts: A 1965 strip has Lucy giving Snoopy a hug:
    Lucy: Felicitas est parvus canis calidus. That's Latin for "Happiness is a warm puppy".
    Snoopy: I can't stand it!
  • FoxTrot: This strip, wherein Jason tells Paige that he thinks he'll sound smarter if he only speaks in Latin. He just winds up annoying her which was kind of the point as the punchline shows.

    Fan Works (Devotoris Figmenti) 
  • Always Visible: "Magistratus oportet servire populo" (The Police must serve The People).
  • A Crown of Stars: Several characters quote some Latin sentences every so often. The moot of Avalon Imperial Army is "Numquam Soli. Semper, Sumus Legio", which means "Never Alone. Always, We Are Legion", and each corp's motto is in Latin, too. In one point "Morior Invictus", meaning "I Die Unconquered", is used.
  • The Gravity Falls fic Home Is Where the Haunt Is includes several spells entirely in Latin. Seems to be Author Appeal, as the author's other fics involving supernatural elements also include Latin.
  • Ultraman Moedari tends to insert Latin randomly, most often due to the character Father Leo, who is a priest of the Latin rite. "Mors stupebit!"
  • The Legend of Total Drama Island has two notable examples:
    • The story quotes several verses from the Latin poem "Dies Irae", in both Latin and English, when Chris plays the "Dies Irae" section of Verdi's Requiem "at cabin-shaking volume" for the first wakeup call.
    • Ezekiel sings Andrew Lloyd Webber's setting of the "Pie Jesu" (also a standard part of a requiem) when a certain contestant leaves the island, and his team later makes it a regular part of the elimination ceremony.
  • The Fate Zero fic Fate: Zero Sanity has the name of the resident The Omniscient Council of Vagueness called "Ordinis Sancti Gladius", or the Order of the Holy Sword. It's this trope because some of its members don't exactly resonate with the title...
  • In Clamo Clamatis Omnes Clamamus Pro Glace Lactis Peeves slips Harry a prank potion which makes him spout random Latin phrases.
  • In Another Country a dark curse results in Harry speaking only Latin.
  • A Peccatis, where all the chapter titles are in Latin.
  • In Life As She Knows It Hollis Potter's left hand has a trio of Latin mottoes tattooed on it. "Consilio et Animus,"Lat "Melior morior bellatro, quam ago profugus"Lat and "Dum spiro, spero."Lat
  • The author of Ankh-Ascendant doesn't seem to use gratuitous Latin within stories, aside from the Malfoys' Pretentious Latin Motto of "splendidissimus", but uses it sometimes in titles: two Harry Potter stories are "Duco Draconis" and "Cruciamentum Eternus", and an Inuyasha story is "Tempus Terminis".
  • In Mountains, the ring Carlisle Malfoy made for his bride Fiona a millennium ago has "Illic est haud tepidus in aurum. Tantum in diligo."Lat inscribed on the inside.
  • Seen practically everywhere in Soul Eater: Troubled Souls, from the names of techniques and moves to the name of the main villainous organization.
  • Elemental Chess Trilogy: Latin phrases are used as some of the chapter titles in Flowers of Antimony. This is justified, in that they are actual alchemical terms and the entire series makes use of Terminology Titles.
  • The Kaizo hack known as IUDICIUM TRIBUNALIS has Latin level names.
  • In "Potter, Inverted" Sirius' Floo password is "Canis domum."
  • Tales of the Undiscovered Swords: The title of entry #9, Platycladus Assholis, based off of the scientific name of the konotegashiwa plant, platycladus orientalis.
  • The title of the Cinderella oneshot Ex Tenebris, Lux roughly translates to "From Darkness, Light".
  • All Mixed Up!: The Latin words on Mariana Mag's life preserver belt buckle, "Factorem Cyphris Praedor Nominas", translates to "Maker of Ciphers, Destroyer of Names", something that Otto manages to figure out when he gets a good look at it.
  • Knows if You've Been Naughty: After Gaz brutally beats a man in the mall for desperately trying to buy her game off of her for his son, the eyes of the snowmen in a nearby Christmas display light up red as they declare in the Voice of the Legion "Krampus Venturus Est", which loosely translates to "Krampus is coming".

    Films — Live-Action (Pelliculae Vīva) 
  • Top Secret!: While Nick Rivers is in prison, he's taken out of his cell and led to an execution room by a priest speaking common Latin phrases such as "corpus delicti" and "quid pro quo". It eventually derails into Pig Latin and translates as "You're going to get fried in the chair". It's the priest who gets fried, which makes sense, given that East Germany was a Communist state.
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail: As a group of Catholic monks are walking along, they repeatedly chant the phrase "Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem" ("Kind Lord Jesus, grant them rest.") and hit themselves on the head with boards. This is a phrase from a longer work known as Dies Irae. (Day of Wrath.)
  • Monty Python's Life of Brian: Some rather doggy Latin is used for graffiti, and the Roman soldier who stumbles on it takes the time to correct the graffiti's grammar.
  • The Running Man: While Richards is being led to the arena, a lawyer reads his contract to him. It includes a Latin phrase in its legalese, "Ad hoc de facto."Lat.
  • Event Horizon: The captain of the Event Horizon signs off his logs with Latin phrases. We learn this after we learn that the only transmission from the ship since it reappears appears to be garbled, but with "save me" spoken in Latin amid the static, and the reasonable assumption is that the captain spoke this as well. He did. However, the static distorts the message, so we only later learn that he's actually saying "Save yourself from Hell."
  • The dog funerals in A Fish Called Wanda all feature a choir singing "Miserere dominus, canis mortus est."Lat.
  • In Tombstone, there is a dialog between gunfighters Johnny Ringo and Doc Holliday with common latin quotations that takes place after Holliday directly insults Ringo to his face.
    Wyatt Earp: [to Ringo, trying to defuse the situation] He's drunk.
    Doc Holliday: "In vino, veritas." Lat.
    Johnny Ringo: "Age quod agis."Lat.
    Doc Holliday: "Credat judaeus Apella, non ego."Lat.
    Johnny Ringo: [running a thumb across his revolver's chamber] "Eventus stultorum magister."Lat.
    Doc Holliday: "In pace requiescat."Lat.
  • Johnny Dangerously has the eponymous protagonist being led down death row by a phony priest, who begins his "last rites" by muttering common Latin phrases, then rapidly degenerates into Canis Latinicus.
    Priest: Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude, The Radio's Too Loud-y. Dominus, Festivus, Missed the bus.
  • Damnatus: As people in the Imperium are wont to do, various characters utter a few phrases of High Gothic during situations of appropriate gravitas.
  • In Leviathan (1989): The Doc is thoughtful enough to give an English version of his commentary on radical genetic engineering: "Natura non confundenda est. Loosely translated: don't fuck with Mother Nature]]."
  • The Raven (1963): While casting his spells, Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre) says "Veni vidi vici" ("I came; I saw; I conquered", quoting Julius Caesar), "De mortuis nil nisi bonum", "Cave canem" (beware of the dog), "Si vis pacem parabellum" ("If you want peace, prepare for war") and "Ceterum censio Carthaginem esse delendam" ("Furthermore, I believe Carthage should be destroyed").
  • In The Punisher (2004), during one of Frank Castle's narrations, he mentions that an instructor he had while in the Marines]] had taught him a phrase: Si vis pacem, para bellum, before translating it into English: If you want peace, prepare for war.
  • Cruel and Unusual: In the afterlife, the condemned have tattoos on their arms which show who they killed...in Latin. Edgar's reads "Uxor" (wife), and Doris' "Ego" (I).
  • Iron Man 2: According to Natalia's C.V. she speaks many languages. When Tony asks if she speaks Latin too, she answers... in Latin, and he's impressed.
  • The Rock: When John Mason meets Stanley Goodspeed, he quotes the Latin saying "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" ("I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts"). When Goodspeed identifies it, Mason figures out that he isn't an ordinary FBI agent.
  • The Paranormal Diaries: Clophill: One witness of paranormal activity at Clophill church claims he saw "La Vide" written on a wall, which he later learned means "No future".

    Literature (Līterae) 
  • Adrian Mole: In Wilderness Years, Adrian pushes Pandora's Berserk Button when he writes a note to her asking for a lift, using the phrase "my alternative modus operandi being driven by you in your motor car". Being far more learned than he is, Pandora is not amused, and corners him in his bedroom, calling him a pompous nerd, and a pathetic dork.
  • The Beginning After the End: The three disciplines of aether as known to the Indrath Clan are referred to with Latin terms. These are aevum ("age"), spatium ("space"), and vivum ("life"), in short the powers to control time, space, and life itself.
  • Jim Butcher:
    • Codex Alera is heavily sprinkled with Gratuitous Latin thanks to its cast mostly consisting of "magical Romans." Perhaps most notably, Aleran names all tend to mean something, be it ironic (Fidelias the Wild Card with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder) or appropriate (Invidia the evil, overly-ambitious bitch).
    • The Dresden Files mostly has Canis Latinicus in the form of spells and Harry's butchering of the language, but occasionally, there will be a bit of real Latin. Mostly when Michael Carpenter is wielding one of the holy swords. The White Council of wizards uses Latin during formal Council meetings, which mostly serves the purpose of indicating to the reader that it's run by a bunch of very old-fashioned and hidebound people; Harry, as already mentioned, speaks it only poorly. The Canis Latinicus is justified in the text by the fact that picking a magic word to go with a spell forges a link between the two in the caster's mind, so they try to use dead languages, fake languages, or just languages that they don't actually know so that they won't use them in normal life (which could lead to an accidental discharge). Harry uses dog-Latin and some dog-Spanish; other wizards are shown using dog-Sumerian, dog-Egyptian, and dog-Japanese.
  • Discworld often has Latin sprinkled about, usually in situations where people are trying to sound pretentious. Examples include the City Watch's motto (Fabricati Diem, PvncLat.) to a joke played by the Unseen University's wizards on a foreign diplomat by awarding him an honorary doctorate in "Adamus cum Flabello Dulci"Lat..
    • Bugarup U's motto "Nullus Anxietas" isn't even trying. Also, written over the secret students' entrance is "Nulli Sheilae Sanguinae"Lat..
    • The mission leaders in The Last Hero for some reason put Rincewind in charge of coming up with a motto, which results in morituri nolumus mori: "We who are about to die don't want to." Vetinari decides to keep it, reasoning it's actually a fitting description of a dangerous mission to stop an Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
    • At Moist's trial in Making Money, Vetinari mentions several Latatian law maxims, including volenti non fit injuria and quia ego sum dico. The first is a perfectly recognizable legal doctrine, the second is a more specific doctrine only really aplicable to Vetinari.
  • Harry Potter:
    • The spells are spoken in hilariously inaccurate Latin.
    • There's the school motto, Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon), which appears on the Hogwarts seal and is never translated in the books. Dumbledore invokes the phrase in the introduction to the side volume Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
  • Don Quixote:
    "... amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas Lat.. I quote this Latin to thee because I conclude that since thou hast been a governor thou wilt have learned it."
  • In A Canticle for Leibowitz the last words spoken are "Sic transit mundus"Lat., which is a play on the Latin phrase "Sic transit gloria mundi" Lat.
  • J. R. R. Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham features Latin names which are then translated into the 'vulgar tongue'. Provides Bilingual Bonus since the translations are often not exact.
  • In The Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, the character of Merlin speaks only in Latin. Because Lewis was a brilliant Latinist, it's all correct. It also makes sense, since Merlin has been in suspended animation since the Low Middle Ages, and has had no opportunity to learn English (which he'd probably associate with the hated Saxon invaders, anyway.)
  • The Sword of Saint Ferdinand: When Fortún Paja and Agatín are arguing, the latter suddenly cites Horace's Odes, and then Salustius' Conspiracy of Catiline, even after the latter has clearly stated he does not speak Latin (in fact, Fortún believes Agatín is speaking Greek):
    Agatín: "You are going to make that lady and that knight think I am a crook."
    Fortún Paja: "That lady and that knight don't care by the likes of you, dear Agatín."
    Agatín: "Pulvis et umbra sumus (We are dust and shadows)."
    Fortún Paja: "I'm warning you: I don't know a word of Greek."
    Agatín: "Vita est brevis (Life is short)."
    Fortún Paja: "Even worse."
    Agatín: "I mean: 'We are nothing'."
    Fortún Paja: "I get it."
  • All the spells in Rivers of London are in Gratuitous Latin, but only because they were all codified and written down by Sir Isaac Newton during the time Latin was the language of choice for Gentlemen Scientists. Just no one ever got around to updating them into English.
  • Henry Beard's Latin for All Occasions runs on this trope. It's a Latin phrasebook for when you need to know how to say things like "Look! Cheese Whiz!" in Latin.
  • A little Latin booklet called Quips and Quiddities runs on this trope, Pretentious Latin Motto and Canis Latinicus all at the same time. It's an Affectionate Parody.
  • Random Latin phrases appear in the mouths of clergy (and people pretending to be clerics) in Ivanhoe. A brawl between Friar Tuck and Prior Aymer is particularly memorable for loud threats delivered in bad Latin.
    Friar Tuck: Ossa ejus perfringam, I shall break your bones, as the Vulgate hath it. (Referring to the Vulgate Bible, the translation (from Greek to Latin) used by the Church in those days).
  • In addition to the title, the web-novel Domina Lat. uses Latin in a number of other places. Every chapter title is a Latin word, and one of the major gangs is Necessarius Lat..
  • There is some Latin dialogue in Greek Ninja.
  • The Heroes of Olympus has multitudes, though justified, as Camp Jupiter is the surviving remnant of Ancient Rome. Most of the camp's terminologies are in Latin, including "Via [insert name here]" to designate roads, "Centurion", "Praetor", "Augur", the camp's official name "Legio XII Fulminata" (the Twelfth Legion, Thunderbolt), and its title SPQR ("Senātus Populusque Rōmānus"; this one is directly lifted from the emblem of the Roman Republic).
  • The Hunger Games has a Latin motif for the central Capitol of Panem. All the characters associated with the main city have Latin first names, usually appropriate to their role, including Coriolanus Snow and Seneca Crane. "Panem" itself is explicitly from the motto "Panem et Circenses", "Bread and Circuses", the central theme of the trilogy.
  • In The Mark of the Lion trilogy, lots of Latin is dropped in as ordinary vocabulary, since the setting is Ancient Rome and it’s the everyday language. There’s a glossary of terms in the back.
  • A.D. Godley, a professor of Classics at Oxford in the 1900s, commemorated the arrival of buses in Oxford with his poem "Motor Bus". The poem achieves mock-gravitas by apostrophizing the eponymous vehicle in Latin, complete with declension of the titular phrase as though it were itself in Latin ("Yes, the smell and hideous hum / Indicat Motorem Bum!"), which overlaps a bit with Canis Latinicus.
  • Gratuitous Latin is in widespread usage in The Mortal Instruments. Partly justified in that Idris is located in Western Europe and has been around since the Middle Ages, when Latin was still the common language of the educated class in that region. Sometimes abused by Shadowhunters as part of their smug routine. Ominous Latin Chanting is also popular.
  • H. G. Wells' "The Food of the Gods" has the following:
    It was so evident that even now he had everything to learn. He did not know there were physical laws and economic laws, quantities and reactions that all humanity voting nemine contradicente cannot vote away, and that are disobeyed only at the price of destruction. (The phrase is perfect for the context being used, it means "absolutely without dissent".)
  • In Relativity, Michael is fond of using Latin quips. He gets in trouble for using one while in his superhero persona.
    Michael: Pfft. Like nobody ever uses Latin.
    Ravenswood: Um... they don’t. Not often, anyway, unless they’re a lawyer.
  • Chapter 9 of Samuel Hopkins Adams' Average Jones, "The Man Who Spoke Latin," is about a guy who allegedly got stuck in one of his previous incarnations after a bump on the head and consequently can speak only in Latin. It turns out to be a scam, of course.
  • Miles Hendon pulls something similar on a prison guard in The Prince and the Pauper to help King Edward VI (at the time believed to be a pauper boy named Tom Canty; the two looked exactly the same) escape from entering a common jail. The guard had just bought a pig from a poor woman for eightpence, when it was really valued at three shillings and eightpence, with the threat of arrest if she did not sell (she had said under oath in the courtroom that it was worth eightpence to avoid having the prince hang for its theft, which he did not commit), and Hendon says that what the officer did was a capital crime legally called "Non compos mentis lex talionis sic transit gloria mundi." Translated into English He goes on to explain that the guard's actions were considered as "constructive barratry What it means misprision of treasonWhat it means malfeasance in officeWhat it means, ad hominem expurgatis in statu quo.Translated
  • Crops up a goodish bit in the Village Tales series. Justified (and Truth in Television) in that the parish churches are naturally full of ancient monuments and memorials; the Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy are expected to know Latin (and Gratuitous Greek) as a matter of course; many of the major characters, including the Duke of Taunton, Professor the Baroness Lacy, HH the Nawab of Hubli, and Sir Thomas Douty, all went through the public schools and Oxbridge; and the archaeologists, epigraphers, and historians on the local Big Dig team, digging up medieval remains and Roman villas in the countryside, have to have Latin at their fingertips as a job prerequisite. Because Smart People Know Latin.
    Of the parish church: "Hic iacet. Hic sepultus. Neare vnto yis place is interred all yat was mortall. Reader, imitate her virtues. Jowly Caroline cherubim, looking like so many celestial Jeremy Clarksons; the long noses and double chins of prosperity under William and Mary, Anne, and the first Georges; Tudor and Jacobean ruff and beard and half-armour, modelled in lasting stone. Obelisks and Classical orders; perukes and pious proverbs. [snip] Wordy Latin and laconic English; wordy English and laconic Latin; Spartan Greek of Laconia; red and black letters, brasses silent yet sounding, and illegible inscriptions smoothed from stone by time."
  • Richard von Krafft-Ebing wrote the more lurid passages (and title) of his book Psycopathia Sexualis in Latin in the apparent belief it would keep the merely salaciously curious away. This is parodied in "Expurgation by Latin" from Michael O'Donoghue's Pornocopia, where the untranslated phrases apparently containing the story's naughty parts are actually extracts from Commentaries on the Gallic War.
  • One Nation, Under Jupiter: Although most of the Latin is subject to Translation Convention, a few phrases are left untranslated.
  • The Amy Virus: When Cyan becomes severely overwhelmed and falls ill, she loses the ability to speak but can still sing in Latin.
  • Temeraire: Most dragons in the British Aerial Corps have grandiose Latin names. Sir Edward Lampshades the trend and explains that most aviators are paired with hatchlings at a young age and like to puff themselves up.
    Sir Edward: There is something quite absurd about a two-ton Winchester called Imperatorius.
  • Terra Ignota: Latin is the official language of the Masonic Empire, per the ancient and mythical aura they try to project of themselves. While everyone in the setting is some level of polylingual, only Latin is presented without Translation Convention, meaning there are sometimes entire dialogues and occasionally paragraphs written entirely in Latin (with translations tacked on in parentheses). The reason it's written this way is complicated and has to do with the Framing Device and it being considered impolite for non-Masons to know Latin. Masonic Latin is said to have been simplified and made more regular to make it easier to speak, while conversely J.E.D.D. Mason chooses to speak it in its full, antiquated form — though the only way you'd tell either of these things is if you're as fluent in Latin as the author.
  • The Toymaker's Apprentice: In chapter 25, the mouse queen has Ernst Listz look at a banner she had made for her seven-headed son. The banner reads E. Pluribus Unum, which Ernst translates "Out of many, one.".
  • Rex regi rebellis (R.R.R.), "King rebellious of a king" in the magic ring which the Bertelskjöld family has as a family heirloom in Z. Topelius's Välskärin kertomuksia. The man-servant of Gustav Bertelskjöld, Larsson, names his axe as Ruris rusticus robustus, "the robust thingy of a farmer".

    Live-Action TV (Televisio Vīva) 
  • In Babylon 5, there was an episode titled "Sic Transit Vir Lat (a Latin pun on a character's name, no less).
  • On Better Off Ted, Veronica claims that the company motto, which is engraved on the lobby floor, translates to "Money Before People", but it sounds much more heroic in Latin.
  • In The Big Bang Theory, where Howard and Sheldon argue over the type of the cricket they found:
    Howard: (shows a page in a book) See it? The common field cricket, AKA Gryllus assimilis which is Latin for "suck it, you lose."
    Sheldon: Hang on! (searches in the book) Voilà! The snowy tree cricket, AKA Oecanthus fultoni, which is Latin for "I will suck nothing." I'm joking, of course, because the Latin for that is "Nihil exsorbebo."
  • The Boys (2019): The carving of The Seven is inscribed with the Latin "Fiat justitia ruat caelum" or "Let justice be done though the heavens fall".
  • Many of the magic spells used on Buffy the Vampire Slayer happen to be in Latin. Evidently one of the more challenging things for Alyson Hannigan was memorizing all of the Latin that the writers kept flinging at her. In the final season, Willow stops halfway through a spell and shouts "Screw it! I suck at Latin, OK?! and proceeds to make the spell work in English by pure force of will. Andrew also displays a knowledge of Latin several times in the show and comics.
  • Deadwood: Merrick writes that a vaccine will be distributed gratis. Al insists that they clarify "free gratis" before deciding to ditch the Latin altogether. In a later episode, a town meeting agrees that the temporary town positions will be ad hoc. Al rolls his eyes, muttering, "Ad hoc... free gratis..."
  • Parodied in the Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code," when Martha, realizing that for once William Shakespeare is at a loss for words on how to finish the sonnet that will banish the Carrionites as he lacks a word to rhyme with cuss, dredges up "Expelliarmus" from Harry Potter, which she, Shakespeare and The Doctor all shout with gusto.
    • "Lupus Deus Est" from "Tooth and Claw"
    • The Ood's songs in the episodes "Planet of the Ood" (which turned into a full choir for a reprise "Journey's End") and The End of Time are in Classical Ood, but translated by the TARDIS into ridiculously bad Latin for human ears.
  • House did this in a conversation with Amber-slash-Cutthroat Bitch: (episode is "Don't Ever Change")
    Amber: Hello, Greg. And I call you Greg because we're now social equals.
    House: And I call you Cutthroat Bitch because, well, quod erat demonstrandum.Lat.
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022): In "Like Angels Put in Hell by God", Rashid utters one line in Latin: "Trubidis rebus ad infinitum." ("With things that are noisy to infinity.")
  • In Kaamelott, King Loth is fond of meaningless Latin quotes. The Latin language (in the quotes) is mostly legitimate, but Loth's translations are always inaccurate.
  • The opening of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has title cards with a Latin label, mostly Canis Latinicus, but some are actual phrases, from the famous ("In Memoriam" for a polar bear and "Deus ex Machina" for a gun) to the surprisingly accurate (an oil rig has "Sit cruor" - "There Will Be Blood", a movie about prospectors).
  • In Lost, there's "Ille qui nos omnes servabit" which is the answer to the coded phrase "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" It means "He who will preserve/save/keep us all" when correctly translated, or "He who will serve us all" if a common translation error is made.
  • A M*A*S*H episode has Major Winchester defending Klinger at a court-martial for allegedly stealing a camera. At one point during the proceedings he objects on the grounds of "unum piliolae, acidus salicilicus tres in diem, post sabel"...which the presiding officer points out translates to "aspirin three times a day".
  • Mr. Bean has an opening theme tune consisting of a choir singing, "Ecce homo qui est faba."Lat. The same choir closes each episode with, "Vale homo qui est faba."Lat.
    • Even the show's commercial breaks are denoted with Latin singing: "Finis partis primae"Lat. and "Pars secunda"Lat.
  • The 2003 MTV Movie Awards' parody of The Matrix Reloaded has the Architect (Will Ferrell) constantly saying "ergo" ("therefore"), along with "concordantly" and "vis-á-vis" (French for "face-to-face"), as he speaks to Neo, noting at one point "You know what? I have no idea what the hell I am saying. I just thought it would make me sound cool."
  • A variation in the 1996 mini-series Rhodes when Cecil Rhodes throws out an ancient Greek quotation while arguing with Barney Barnato, who mocks him for it afterwards. "As soon as he talked Greek to me I knew he was dotty."
  • The Sketch Show: Inverted in a sketch set in an ancient Roman flower shop. A customer asks for a spider plant, to the florists's confusion. When he then asks for Chlorophytum comosum, Lee replies, "Well, why didn't you just say that you pretentious prat?"
  • Any time a Star Trek episode from any series uses a Latin title, you can be assured that the title, when translated, carries significant meaning to the plot of the episode.
    • Star Trek: The Original Series: The title of the famous episode "Arena" literally means "sand" or "powder" in Latin, and gained its present meaning because of the sand sprinkled on the floor before a gladiator fight to give them traction. But apparently the title wasn't intended to be taken this way, even though it works, and just referred to... an arena.
    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"Lat. is concerning the usage of underhanded methods to change the political structure of the Romulan empire in the Federation's favor (with a war going on, no less). One of the characters even does a Title Drop during the episode.
    • Star Trek: Voyager: The episode "Ex Post Facto,"Lat. concerning a race that extracts memory engrams from murder victims and uses that as evidence against a Voyager crew member. The term is an actual legal term, referring to laws that are retroactively binding to cases before the law was enacted.
    • Star Trek: Enterprise: The episode "Vox Sola"Lat. whose title acts as a perfect description of the Starfish Alien they found (probably the most alien lifeform in all of Trek). It was alone, a part of a larger entity that had been removed, and just wanted to go home.
    • Star Trek: Discovery: The episode "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum."Lat.
    • Star Trek: Picard: The Season 1 finale is titled "Et in Arcadia Ego."Lat.
  • Many of the incantations and exorcisms in Supernatural are in Latin, due mainly to Latin being the language of magic and religion.
  • In The West Wing, when President Bartlet conducts his Rage Against the Heavens in the National Cathedral, he starts yelling at God in Latin.
    • Also, from guess which episode:
      Bartlet: Twenty-seven lawyers in the room, anyone know post hoc, ergo propter hoc? Josh?
      Josh: Uh... post, "after," after hoc; ergo, "therefore"; "after hoc, therefore something else hoc."
      Bartlet: Thank you. Next. Leo?
      Leo: "After it, therefore because of it."
      Bartlet: After it, therefore because of it. It means one thing follows the other, therefore it was caused by the other, but it's not always true. In fact, it's hardly ever true. We did not lose Texas because of the hat joke. Do you know when we lost Texas?
      C.J.: When you learned to speak Latin?
  • The finale of the first season of Yellowjackets is titled "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," which translates as "Thus passes worldly glory," or alternatively, "Thus Passes the Glory of the World." Wikipedia explains that the phrase was once used in Papal coronation ceremonies and is intended to serve as a reminder of the transitory nature of life and early honors. The season finale has not yet aired, but this doesn't sound good for the Yellowjackets.

    Music (Musica) 
  • Latin, as the historical language of the Roman Catholic Church and the Academia, has a vast repertoire of both secular and religious music set to it. For a singer, it may seem difficult to learn the pronounciations at first — especially if you've been singing it wrong before. "Veh-night-ee" for Venite, indeed! Of course, any talk about pronunciation leads right into the huge argument between the "Ecclesiastical" or "Medieval" pronunciation versus the "Classical" or "Restored" pronunciation. "Ven-ee-tay" vs. "Wen-ee-tay", for starters. Most written music was written for Ecclesiastical Pronunciation, though.
  • Macaronic Christmas carols written in a mixture of Latin and another language are somewhat common. "The Boar's Head" is a prominent English example, with the refrain and last line of each verse in Latin. Another is "In dulci jubilo," originally in German and Latin.
  • The German neo-medieval band Corvus Corax note  parodies this trope on one of its shirts with the words, "Omnia dicta fortiora, si dicta latina" which means, "Everything sounds more impressive when said in Latin."
  • Diablo Swing Orchestra parodies this with "Balrog Boogie", where the lyrics are rambling in Latin.
  • One section of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is titled "Con mortuis in lingua mortua," meaning "with the dead in a dead language" (although the first word should be "cum", rather than "con" as it would be in Italian).
  • Carmina Burana by Carl Orff has a lot of Latin songs in it, mingling with courtly French and mediaeval German.
    • The original Carmina Burana song collection dates to 13th century. Quod audiat hoc in saeculum XXI? Omnes!
  • Cat Stevens recorded a song titled "O Caritas" with mostly Latin lyrics translated by Jeremy Taylor.
  • Tears for Fears: The song "Floating Down the River" includes the word ave in its lyrics, which is Latin for "hail" and was used as a greeting in Ancient Rome.
  • John Linnell of They Might Be Giants has Roman Songs, an EP of four songs entirely in Latin - the initial inspiration was Linnell learning the language on an app, but he realized writing songs in the language was tougher than he thought it'd be, so he wrote lyrics in English, then got outside help for translations and pronunciation. The track "TECVM CIRCVMAMBVLARE NOLO" is technically a gratuitous Latin Cover Song of The Ramones - that is, the lyrics are translated from the Ramones song "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You", but the music is just barely recognizable as the same song.
  • Turisas song Rex regi rebellis, based on Z. Topelius's book Välskärin kertomuksia.

    Pro Wrestling (Etiam palaestrica) 

    Radio (Radiophonum) 
  • In the Swedish radio panel game På Minuten, when Helge Skoog took over as scorekeeper-timekeeper, he declared his official job title to be "Notarius Publicus" ("Notary Public"). Never mind that the two professions have little in common.
  • The pen name Mr. Lennox-Brown in The Men from the Ministry uses when writing to The Times' letter column is "Pro Bono Publico", meaning "for the public good".

    Roleplay 
  • The Gungan Council featured several factions with Latin names, such as Regnum In Potestas and Sine Occasu, for no better reason than it was cool.

    Tabletop Games (Lūdī Lūsī In Mensā) 
  • The word "Primarch" from Warhammer 40,000 is an example of Latin/Greek mixture: "primus" ("first") is a Latin word root, whereas "archon" ("ruler") is Greek (άρχον ). Still 40K offers a great deal of proper Gratuitous Latin. According to Word of God this is simply a Translation Convention meant to evoke the way "High Gothic" would sound to the common folk of .M41.
  • Vampire: The Requiem has a lot of terminology either directly imported from, or inspired by Latin, presumably related to the fact that vampire society is static, at best. Although justified, it is still amusing that Ancilla, a word used to refer to "middle-aged" vampires, translates quite readily as "slave woman."
  • Subverted in F.A.T.A.L., which was kind enough to provide a translation for its pretentious Latin. Usually, this was some kind of crude sexual doggerel. The Latin is also often wrong. On the other hand, at least one part seems to be quoting (or paraphrasing) the crude sexual doggerel of Catullus (a real Roman poet) - see Catullus 16 on Wikipedia for info on that (NSFW text there though).
  • The Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook Libris Mortis is a double subversion: it looks fine to the layman. But the community calls it the "Book of Bad Latin" because they assume it's supposed to mean Book of the Dead (which should be Liber Mortis). But it's not: the book's introduction makes it clear that it's intended to mean From the Books of the Dead, so the ablative plural "libris" is actually not wrong, making the title a fine Latin phrase meaning "(from) the books of death". ("From the books of the dead" would be Libris Mortuorum.)
  • BattleTech's Word of Blake - a fanatical Machine Worshiping nation - uses this trope, naming the majority of their combat units, battlemech designs, and other equipment in latin. Their Manei Domini Doom Troops heavily utilize cybernetics and are famed for their brutality. Their usage of Latin is parodied by a character
    Ten years ago, if you had mentioned the words 'Manei Domini' to anyone, you could expect either a confused head-tilt reaction or a correction for your bad Latin.
  • Ars Magica can have shades of this, but since it's a game of more or less scholarly wizards in medieval Europe, the use of Latin terms is quite justified. The game's title translates to "(The) Magic Arts."
  • Hc Svnt Dracones roughly translates to "Here Be Dragons".
  • In Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution the Eternal Storm, the event that will result in espers becoming the new master race and what the Zodiac Order is actively working towards, is also referred to as "Aeturnius Procella".
  • Agricola is named after the Latin word for "farmer", presumably to give it an old-fashioned feel to go with the theme of playing as a 17th century farmer.

    Theatre (Lūdī Scaenicī) 
  • In Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel (1893), the witch chants, "Hocus pocus, bonus jocus, malus locus, hocus pocus." Though "hocus pocus" is meaningless, the rest translates as "good joke, bad place."
  • Cyrano de Bergerac:
    • After Jodelet notices that Mountfleury has fallen from grace with the Burgundy's theater public, Bellerose cites the first two words of "Sic transit gloria mundi" Lat.
    [Cries are heard outside.]
    Jodelet: [who has looked out] They hoot Montfleury!
    Bellerose: [solemnly] Sic transit!...
    • Act II Scene VII, when a cadet shows the hats of the thugs Cyrano defeated, Captain Carbon says: Spolia opima! Lat.
  • A running gag in Love's Labour's Lost is that a couple of blowhard characters are full of this, and love to correct each other for using grammar incorrectly and such. This annoys Moth, the local Servile Snarker, who remarks, "They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps."
  • The Opening Chorus of The Vagabond King is sung in a mixture of English and Latin.
  • In Candide, "The Best of All Possible Worlds" (in the version performed in most later productions) contains a very short Latin verb conjugation lesson, and concludes with a fugato on "Quod erat demonstrandum" (a line which, in the rejected "War and Peace" version of the song, was rhymed with "those who understand 'em").
  • In Julius Caesar, when the title character has been stabbed to death by the conspirators, his dying words are: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!" This particular line has been quoted and paraphrased by innumerable authors, even though most historians from Suetonius believe that if the historical Julius Caesar said anything at this point, he would have spoken it in Greek.
  • In 1776, Edward Rutledge likes to speak Latin, much to Colonel McKean's annoyance.

    Video Games (Lūdī Ēlectronicī) 
  • In the Ace Combat series:
    • The final mission of Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies features the song Megalith-Agnus Dei as the soundtrack for destroying the Megalith superweapon*. The track takes lyrics from three texts from funeral Masses: the sequence "Dies Irae" ("Rex tremendae majestatis...") the form of "Agnus Dei" formerly sung in funerals ("Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem") and the communion verse "Lux Aeterna" ("Lux aeterna luceat eis Domine cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es")
    • Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War's final mission theme, fittingly named The Unsung War, is also in Latin. This time the lyrics are a vulgate translation of the Razgriz poem that recurrently appears through the game, with a lot of repetitions.
    • The Ominous Latin Chanting in Release which plays during the final mission of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon contains lyrics taken directly from the Latin hymn, Dies Irae.
  • Age of Mythology averts Canis Latinicus creating scientific names for myth units - any Half-Human Hybrid is Homo x (centaur = equus, minotaur = bull, valkyrie = valkyria), any giant is Atlas x, others take the genus of the animal it's inspired in and add a sufix (the Nemean Lion is Leo biaxomus, the Fenris Wolf is Canis fenrir).
  • ANNO: Mutationem: During the last fight, Sigrid channels her energy into a spell while reciting it in Latin, and then rephrases the enchantment in English.
  • Arknights: The nation of Laterano is heavily associated with Latin, being the Vatican's Fantasy Counterpart Culture.
    • One of Exusiai's skill activation quotes in the Japaanese voiceover is "Deo volente!"note 
    • Fiammetta's skill names in the English localization are all in Latin.note 
    • In "Guide Ahead", Laterano street names are in Latin, and dead Laterano citizens are interred at the Ecclesia Requietumnote . Several characters are also seen speaking Latin, implying that the official Laterano language is Latin or a variant of it. It even extends to the names of all the generic enemies fought in the event.
      Executor: Federico here. Female citizen's body discovered at 7-265 Via Thervatius, Pagus Stevonus. Preliminary determination of the cause of death: natural. Please notify the Ecclesia Requietum of the pagus to come and inter the remains.
    • When facing off against Andoain at the end of the event, Fiammetta exclaims "Pedicabo ego te et irrumabo!"note 
    • The trend continues with "Hortus de Escapismo"note . The event takes place in the Sanctinamilum Ambrosiinote  and two of its debut operators are Executor the Ex Foederenote  and Spurianote .
  • Ezio Auditore's Bond One-Liner catchphrase from Assassin's Creed II: Requiescat in pace (Rest in Peace*). Justified, of course, because the game is set in Italy (sometimes actually in Rome itself) during the Renaissance, in which all Catholic masses and prayers would have been said in Latin, and a nobleman like Ezio would certainly be fluent in it. And some Ominous Latin Chanting on the soundtrack as well (but moreso in the sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood). It also appears in speech at times, such as Rodrigo Borgia holding mass in the Sistine Chapel right before Ezio attempts to assassinate him.
  • The Rome section of Atlantis Quest is titled "Senatus populusque romanus"Lat.
  • Spellcasting characters in Baldur's Gate II chant short stock phrases in Latin when casting a spell, the Latin is appropriate to the type of spell being cast (summon, evocation, enchantment etc.).
  • When Tsubaki Yayoi of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift finally got around to becoming a playable character, her English battle cries were all of this form, owing to her love of historical dramas and Lawful Good self-image. Her moves include "Lux Aeterna" ("Eternal Light") and "Benedictus Rex" ("Blessed King"). She's joined by the mad scientist Relius Clover, who not only names his moves in Latin but also yells out various Latin phrases while executing them. Also an example of Smart People Know Latin.
  • Bloodhound begins each stage with a Latin verse quoting from the Apocalypsis. It doesn't serve any purpose other than an indication that the hero is a demon-slaying Templar on the side of good.
    Post hæc vidi : et ecce ostium apertum in cælo, et vox prima, quam audivi tamquam tubæ loquentis mecum, dicens : Ascende huc, et ostendam tibi quæ oportet fieri post hæc.
  • Castlevania:
    • Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia uses Latin extensively in the glyph (weapon) names and some of the stages.
    • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2:
      • Dracul and a Brotherhood of Light paladin chanted a prayer in Latin during the tutorial, creating a massive shockwave that wiped out both the Brotherhood and Castlevania.
      • The Revelations DLC introduces the Forbidden Wing, which was where Dracul lost his mind after he returned from killing the Forgotten One in the first game. The walls are full of Latin and Romanian writings in blood.
  • Most ship classes of the Thelios Faction from Celestus have latin names: Ad Astra for corvettes, Temporis Celestias for frigates, Semper Fidelis for heavy cruisers, Æsumbra and Canem for battlecruisers, Ad Victoriam for super-dreadnoughts and Lux Triumphans for planet-killers. The others have names that might be latin-sounding but have no meaning (the Aion battleships, Praexios light cruisers and Luminanti factional flagship)
  • Cuphead: During the time in the Rugged Ridge, when Cuphead and Mugman stumble upon a ruined castle that was once home to the Legendary Chalice and the Elder Kettle and the kitchen utensil warrior knights (which is kind of a parody on King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table), they see a plaque of a shield bearing a teacup and some kitchen utensils, below which is an inscription that says "Calix Animī" (which, when translated from Latin, means "The Cup of Courage").
  • Rhea of Dark Souls will say "Vereor Nox" as a farewell to the player. It means "fearfully respect the night/dark."
  • Evil player characters in Dawn of Magic end up fighting a "holy hero" at one point in the first chapter. During the fight the "hero" spouts random Latin phrases such as "Sic transit gloria mundi" which are apparently supposed to represent spellcasting.
  • Desktop Dungeons has a little scroll on the sidebar which says "Ut sic semper felicem terra timebat monstra." Lat
  • In The Elder Scrolls, the Imperials (Cyrodiil's native race of Men) are heavily influenced by Ancient Rome. Most have Latin-sounding names and Latin sounding words (real or otherwise) permeate through their culture. Early in the series, the Imperials had two distinct sub-cultures: the Colovians (hearty highland folk) and the Nibenese (cosmopolitan heartlanders), with this trope only applying to the Colovians. By the time of Oblivion, this separation was almost entirely dropped, with the Imperials drawing heavily from ancient Rome.
  • Eternal Darkness: "Hanc mitte ad dominum et imperatorem nostrum, Carolum Magnum Francum." ("Deliver this to our lord and emperor, Charles the Great the Frank." Charles the Great is more widely referred to by his French name, Charlemagne).
  • The infamous Boss in Mook Clothing F.O.E.s of Etrian Odyssey; the official English expansion of the acronym is "Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens".
  • Caesar's Legion from Fallout: New Vegas uses a lot of Latin. Latin names, ranks, currency, uniforms, punishments, etc. They also pronounce Latin the way most scholars believe it was actually pronounced, using no soft Cs (so that "See-zer" becomes "Kai-zar") and pronouncing Vs as Ws. Arcade Gannon also speaks some Latin, but he's quick to assure you that he didn't learn it from the Legion.
    • Makes for a sort of Bilingual Bonus when all of the New Californa Republic troops pointedly use the Anglified pronounciation of Caesar's name. At least one bit of dialogue indicates that they're aware of how he wants his name said, they just don't care, given that the Legion and the Republic are at war.
    • Your character, with high enough intelligence, can also speak some Latin, and you can use it to fake out a captured Centurion and make him spill the beans on his plans without even needing to raise a fist.
  • Fate/Grand Order: Several Roman servants use Latin for their Noble Phantasm's names, including: Romulusnote , Neronote , Caesarnote , Caligulanote , Romulus=Quirinusnote  and Astraeanote .
  • In the Final Fantasy series:
    • Final Fantasy VII: "One-Winged Angel", Sephiroth's theme lyrics are mostly lifted from Carmina Burana, which is a good source of this sort of thing:
      Estuans interius, ira vehementi. (Burning inside with vehement anger.)
      Sors immanis, et inanis (Fate - empty, and cruel.)
      Veni veni venias, ne me mori facias. (Come, come, O come, do not let me die.)
    • The opening theme of Final Fantasy VIII, "Liberi Fatali" ("Fated Children," though more properly it should be "Liberi Fatales"). Additionally, all of the paintings in the art gallery in Ultimecia's castle have Latin titles which are part of a minor sidequest.
    • Dissidia Final Fantasy uses the trope multiple times. Dissidia itself is derived from the Latin word for discord. The prequel is called Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy, where in 012 is officially pronounced "Duodecim", which is Latin for twelve. The prequel's final secret character, Feral Chaos has Latin names for his HP attacks, such as Deus Iratus*, Ventus Irae*, and Lux Magnus*. This also applies to his EX Burst: Regnum Dei* and its followup: Nex Ultimus*.
    • Final Fantasy XIII: Ragnarok de Dies Irae
    • Final Fantasy XV, God, just, Final Fantasy XV. If there was ever an example of using Latin just for Latin's sake, this game provides it (it even manages to provide some Aerith and Bob moments thanks to characters named "Cindy" or "Dave" in the first chapter alone contrasted against the backdrop of the fancy Latin names).
      • The protagonist, Noctis Lucis Caelum, "Sky of the Night Light"
      • His father, King Regis Lucis Caelum, "Sky of the King's Light". That's right, the king's name is "King".
      • His buddy, Ignis Scientia, "Fire Knowledge".
      • His other buddy, Gladiolus Amicitia, "Little Sword Friendship". What kind of parent names their son "Little sword"?
      • His third buddy, Prompto Argentum "Silver for the quick man", an obvious attempt at translating "quicksilver".
      • His fiancée, Lunafreya, "Moon Lady", the last word being Gratuitous Old Norse. (In Japanese, her name is Lunafrena, which roughly means 'bridles of the moon', or more poetically, 'guides of the moon'.) Lunafreya's brother (and no friend of Noctis') is called Ravus Nox Fleuret, 'Tawny Night Fencing Foil' (although 'fleuret' is French).
      • Noctis's mentor, Cor Leonis "Lion's heart", is the first one to be grammatically correct.
      • XV doesn't stop at personal names. The heroes' country is named Lucis ('light'), and Lunafreya's home is called Tenebrae ('darkness'). The bad guy nation and the Precursors, on the other hand, are both Norse: Niflheim and Solheim (which is a surname meaning 'home of the sun').
  • Gunstar Heroes: Absilio Mundus!
  • In Hundred Days, Luca reminds Emma to rest every once in a while by saying "mens sana in corpore sano" — "a healthy mind in a healthy body".
  • Kingdom Hearts series has a surprising lack of use of Gratuitous Latin, especially in contrast to its creator's frequent use for its sister series. The series mainly employs Gratuitous Italian, which is significantly less pretentious (though to untrained eyes both languages look alike). Nevertheless, this trope is still present: the protagonists of Birth By Sleep, for example, are named Ventus ("Wind"), Terra ("Earth", though this word has a feminine gender), and Aqua ("Water"), all of whom are named to fit the Theme Naming of Sora ("Sky"), Riku ("Land"), and Kairi ("kai" being an Alternate Character Reading of 海 "sea"), respectively, which are in Japanese. Plus Vanitas ("Emptiness"note ).
    • There's also the recurring special attack Ars Arcanum, which simply means (loosely) "Secret Technique". In the Japanese version, it's known as "Last Arcanum" (lit. Last Secret), which combines this trope with Gratuitous English.
    • Also from Birth By Sleep is Ars Solum (lit. "Solo Technique"; known as "Solo Arcanum"note  in the Japanese version), a command that only Terra can use.
    • Kingdom Hearts III has a world named Scala ad Caelum (literally "stairway to heaven"), but also a game-within-a-game named Verum Rexnote  and another world named "Quadratum" (literally "Square" in Latin).
  • In King Lucas the title monarch's wife left him.
    King Lucas: I did nothing.
    Player Character: I didn't say you did something, but "excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta."Lat
  • Kingdom of Loathing parodies this trope. The IOTM Loathing Legion Knife has a tattoo needle, and when used, it will give you a tattoo inscribed with the Loathing Legion's unofficial motto: "Tardis Pro Cena", which you should never call a Loathing Legionnaire. Apparently, you should never call them "late for dinner".
  • In Labyrinths of the World 3: Changing the Past traveling to ancient Rome requires finding all of the letters in the phrase "Romae antiquae."
  • Some of the Soundtrack (opening theme, ending theme) in Lamento - beyond the void has lyrics sung in Latin. Some tracks also have Latin chants.
  • Legacy of Kain: Vae Victus!
  • In the Spanish language version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the boss names are in Latin.
  • In Lollipop Chainsaw, Swan's ritual with the Dark Purveyors involves chanting Latin phrases.
  • Marathon:
    • In the first game, the level "Welcome to the Revolution" has a secret terminal message with Tycho speaking to Durandal in Latin.
    • In the second game, Durandal has some fun with this: after killing his greatest enemy, he carves the following epitaph into a moon: "Fatum Iustum Stultorum" ("The Just Fate of Fools"; in other words, "These idiots got what was coming to them.")
    • Both the main games and the many fan-made scenarios have several levels with gratuitous Latin names; in addition to the aforementioned "Fatum Iustum Stultorum", there's "Ingue Ferroque" (a slight misspelling of "Igni Ferroque" or "Igne Ferroque"), "Ex Cathedra", "Ne Cede Malis", "Ex Justicia Mortis", etc.
    • These games have so much of this trope that we've given the series its own page. And Game Mods for the series, following Bungie's example, have enough Latin to have gotten their own page.
  • In MINERVA: Metastasis, the titular MINERVA ironically quotes a twist on a line from Horace's Odes: "dulce et decorum est pro terra mori". ("It is sweet and fitting to die for your planet", caustically referring to the player character's Transhuman Treachery.)
  • A sign outside the reconstructed Ravenhearst gates in Mystery Case Files 12: Key to Ravenhearst says "Ex cineribus resurgam" (Rise out of the ashes) at the bottom.
  • Not for Broadcast: If Alex allowed Jeremy to die on national television at the end of Day 296, by Day 371, his gravestone has the inscription: "Requiescat in pacenote : Jeremy Robert Donaldson. 1944—1985."
  • Octopath Traveler: The hidden Sorcerer job has a three-hit, Ao E ability for every element, all named in Latin. Unfortunately, the English dub pronunciations of the Sorcerer's spells are incorrect due to a mispronunciation of the infinitive. Take Ignis Ardere, which is pronounced by the actors as "ah-dare", when the -re is a syllable of its own, meaning it should be "ah-dare-ay".
  • In Portal 2, there's a song on the soundtrack (which only appears on the main menu when you're on a certain chapter in the game) called "PotatOS Lament" which is in Latin.
  • Progressbar 95: You can find a Latin directory with a Codex file in ProgressDOS, which is all in Latin as you'd expect. To access it, you need to type in a code which can be found in a readme.txt file, which has the "lorem ipsum" text and the code written in Latin numbers (for example, Duo Unus Septem). The game gives you "MMMMM punctorum" for figuring it out.
  • Star Trek Online:
    • In the finest tradition of Star Trek, episode "Romulan Mystery", mission "Divide et Impera".Lat
    • Appropriately, the Fan Sequel/Fix Fic for that mission is titled "Divide ut Regnes".Lat
  • Mordekai the Summoner, the final boss in Serious Sam The Second Encounter speaks "complete nonsense, or as one would say, utter crap. In Latin." This is due to Mental being a bit late with resurrecting him after he died in an accident which, among other things, also included a mispronounced Latin proverb.
  • The description of each of the spells in Shrouded Tales: The Spellbound Land is a full paragraph of genuine, presumably-correct Latin.
  • Super Mario RPG features the Superboss Culex, whose name means "gnat" in Latin.
  • In Super Robot Wars Z2: Saisei-Hen, During Uther's final attack, he chants a spell to cast a curse on his opponent. The translated version of the spell chant Uther recites during the attack is Latin for:
    As the sun shines upon all creation,
    a king's love is for his subjects.
    Thou who tread the path of the Fool
    By the light of Salvation,
    Thou shalt be saved.
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl begins with an an epic Latin chorus.
  • In the background of Sword of the Stars, Latin has become one of humanity's main languages. This is mostly due to the Catholic Church becoming the dominant religion on Earth and its colonies (but not the only one). In The Deacon's Tale novel (which features a lot of gratuitous Latin and few translations), the Pope has enough power to threaten the Director of SolForce, the most powerful man in human space. The protagonist of the novel is a Chinese man who is in charge of one of SolForce's intelligence branches but who is secretly a Catholic deacon (it's kinda frowned upon to serve two masters).
  • Tierra Azul:
    • The title screen:
    In die illa tremenda
    Quando caeli movendi sunt
    Caeli et terra
    Dum veneris judicare
    • The passage in question is from Libera Me. It means, roughly...
      On that fearful day
      When the heavens and the earth
      Shall be moved
      When thou shalt come to judge
  • Being a medic, Miguele from 2Dark knows Latin, and likes to drop some of it in his speech. If he kills Smith, for instance, he'll exclaim "Acta est fabula! The long path of your destiny ends here!"
  • In Tyranny, a Fatebinder in a Mushroom Samba has the option to note that the legal term for their status as a Mouth of Sauron for the Archon of Law is "proxy decisis"note , or in Layman's Terms, "fuck you, I'm the law".
  • Parodied: The true labs from Undertale have "Memoryheads", horrific amalgamations of creatures from experiments gone wrong, as an enemy. They have a chance of saying "Lorum ipsum docet" in battle. Translated, it...doesn't actually mean anything. "Lorum Ipsum" is just common filler text used in publishing/graphic design.
  • Virtue's Last Reward has a number of examples:
    • Phi's brooch says Elapsam semel occasionem non ipse potest Iuppiter reprehendere (Not even Jupiter can reclaim a lost opportunity.)
    • Also spoken by Phi: "Acta est fabula, plaudite!" (The play has ended, applaud!)
    • On the tombstone in the garden: Tu fui, ego eris. (What you are, I was; what I am, you will be.) An English variation is also found in the security room's computer: "I was you; you will be me."
    • Memento mori (Remember death) is part of the message on the wall of the Floor B warehouse.
    • The journal found in the Laboratory is entirely written in Latin. Most of the characters can't read it, but Phi is able to translate one important passage.
  • In the Japanese dub of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Titans of Alrest are all named after the Latin words for the Seven Deadly Sins. In the English dub, only Argentum's name is Latin.
    • From the same game, all of Corvin's battle skills and specials have Latin names, like "Lacerna Noctis" and "Alae Custodiae". Interestingly, his Merc Group title comes from Old Norse.
  • The character Doctus from Xenosaga Episode III tends to use Latin sayings for no apparent reason, such as "errare humanum est" (to err is human).
  • In Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, Lacrimosa, means "weeping" or "tearful" in Latin and is a discrete part in a requiem, and is derived from the title of The Virgin Mary, "Our Lady of Sorrows".

    Web Comics (Libellī Pictī De Interrete) 
  • A subversive example from Fluble (Death's Latin is incorrect: hystrix means "porcupine").
  • Girl Genius:
    • Parodied in with Humongulus who will spout off the occasional Latin phrase, but if you translate it, it will usually be fairly modern vernacular.
      What is this? Humongulus cannot move! Non est frigidus!Lat.
    • Lumi explains the bizarre effects alchemically altering Franz Skortchman's flame has had on his personality as "se habet crapulam", which just means "he's drunk".
  • Tales of the Questor makes extensive use of Latin in deals with The Fair Folk.
    Quentyn: Well, you know why Latin is called the "Scholars'" tongue...? It's a dead language. Never changes, very specific and all that stuff... So scholars can use it to write to one another, and no matter what language they speak they can understand one another, exactly. ...So the Fey are always pulling tricks, right? Getting out of agreements by playing dumb, deliberately misunderstanding words or using double-meanings... But Latin is one of the only languages that they can't do that. In fact, they say that you should only make deals with Fey in Latin for that reason.
  • Breakfast of the Gods: Jarvis's final spell is in decent Latin, except for one word in English. Saying what the spell is would be a huge spoiler for the whole work.
  • Mullein Fields: Adeo mihi bardus bus! (Very loosely translated: "You stupid bus".)
  • Outrim: "Omnia Dicta Fortiora, Si Dicta Latina" is the motto of a mercenary company, and loosely translates as "everything sounds more badass if you say it in Latin".

    Web Original (Opera De Interrete) 

    Web Videos (Televisio De Interrete) 
  • In his list of top 11 Anime openings, the Banjo Kid (when talking about Elfen Lied) remarks on how anything can be made to sound elegant and beautiful in Latin, then begins singing a Latin explanation of why he's not wearing any pants. Later, he also does a Gregorian Chant version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady".
  • Stupid Mario Brothers used this lightly since Nox Decious's introduction.
  • Disc Only Podcast's intro contains a colored drawing with scrolls featuring Latin words associated with the origin of the podcast, as well as the four guys with their personas: Grandpa Stephen, Rosajon, the 8-Bit Bunny, and Quagsire Tom. The streamer associated with Tom subverts it by having a series of A's instead to denote the screaming Quagsire.
  • At the end of his personal log, now to be seen on YouTube, after the captain has eaten his own face, Petty Officer John Deadman (Alasdair Beckett-King) decides that there's nothing left to do but scatter fragments of this Apocalyptic Log around the Project Hubris station and send out a distress signal in Latin. The text turns out to be "Tuam faciem manduca", which translates as "Eat your face".

    Western Animation (Picturae Animatae Occidentales) 
  • DuckTales (2017): In "The Split Sword of Swanstantine", Huey says that to find the sword pieces, they would need verum fortitudinum. Scrooge and Dewey blindly agree before he explains it means "true strength." Doubles as a Meaningful Echo when Huey embraces his wild side.
  • In Gargoyles, all the mortal spells were in Latin. Because anything said in Latin sounds profound and Ominous. Word of God says that the book containing most of those spells was written by a magus working for Emperor Augustus; naturally, Latin was his first language.*
  • In The Venture Brothers, 21 tries to be intimidating by yelling "Semper Fidelis, Tyrannosaurus!" when trying to say "Sic semper tyrannis". Upon which he is informed he just said "Always faithful, terrible lizard", which he still thinks is pretty cool.
  • In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "The Song of Mystery":
    Mary-Anne: I almost had the whole town cleared of adults. I would have too, if it weren't for you honito van boys qwaud wella!
    Gang: Huh?
    Mary-Anne: *sigh* Loosely translated, it means "meddlesome kids" in Latin.
  • Mysterio in The Spectacular Spider-Man uses Latin to make his Evil Sorcerer guise seem more dramatic and arcane. In fact, many of his phrases are quite funny if you translate them. (It appears he's a student of Henry Beard's Latin For All Occasions.)
    Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere!Translation
    Denique diatem efficacem inveni!Translation
    Nullae satisfactionis potiri non possum!Translation
  • In the episode of South Park where Damien (Satan's son) visits the Earth, all of his evil spells are accompanied by some Ominous Latin Chanting that goes "Rectus! Dominus!" before shifting abruptly to "Cheesy Poofs!" (The first two words, by the way, translate to "Ass Master.")
  • In the Rankin-Bass version of The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus, the opening musical number that introduces the leaders of the immortals has a Latin title — Ora e Sempre ("edge of the measured"). It's the only Latin in the entire song — or even in the entire special.
  • In the Kim Possible three-part story "A Sitch in Time", several members of Kim's Rogues Gallery have joined forces to recover the "Tempus Simia". A glance at her Latin vocabulary lessons reveals the English meaning: "Time Monkey".
  • The Dragon Prince: Ancient Draconic, the language used for magic incantations, is basically Latin. Some words/phrases used: Regina Draconis (to send a message to the Dragon Queen), Aspiro (to blow a gust of wind), Fulminis (lightning).
  • Wile E. Coyote says the Latin genus for the wild western rabbit (namely, Bugs Bunny) is "rabbitus idioticus delicious."

    Real Life (Vēritās in Tēlevīsiōne) 
  • Vicipaedia Lat..
  • About three-fifths of all words in English come from Latin in one way or another. About half of these are taken straight from Latin, while the other half came through French (a Romance language, that is, one that started out as a dialect of Vulgar Latin). There's also a smattering of other Romance borrowings (Italian and Spanish have both made small but significant contributions). That said, many of these words are (to use a French word) quite niche, especially when it comes to the direct Latin borrowings. The core English vocuabulary is and has always been Germanic—most of the words an English-speaker will say in any given day have Germanic roots, not Latin ones. (Just look at this entry!)
  • All Roman Catholic Church records are in Latin, so this leads to them creating Latin words for things that just weren't around when the Romans were, such as "Interrēte", which means "Internet" as seen in the folder headings on this page.
  • The Catholic Mass was only in Latin from 1570 until 1963 (with experimentations from '64-'69), from the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar (the "Introibo ad Altare Dei") to the Last Gospel (John 1:1-14; "In principio erat verbum, et Verbum apud Deum"). This Mass (now known as the "Tridentine Rite" or "Extraordinary Form" among other names) is still celebrated today, but most of the Masses celebrated (called the "Ordinary Form" or the "Novus Ordo") tend to be in the vernacular (although according to Vatican documents, it's supposed to still be in Latin), and sometimes they will have Latin in it (especially during Lent). Same thing happened to the Church of England.
  • Nova Roma, an international organization "dedicated to the study and restoration of ancient Roman culture". Including the Cultus Deorum Romanorum.
  • Nuntii Latini, the Latin news report of the Finnish Radio.
  • Many Badass Creeds are Pretentious Latin Mottoes, such as Semper FidelisLat. (USMC), Semper ParatusLat. (USCG), Per Mare, Per TerramLat. (Royal Marines), Ad Astra Per Aspera (NASA for the Apollo missions - "ad lunam" would have been better),Lat., Per Ardua Ad Astra (the RAF),Lat., Per Ardua Ad Alta (Birmingham University),Lat., Qualitas Potentia Nostra Lat. (Finnish Air Force), Citius, Altius, Fortius (The Olympics),Lat. and so on.
  • The "Audi" car brand was named after a direct translation from the German Horch ("Listen") to its Latin counterpart—the guy who started the company's name was August Horch. Horch founded Audi after the Board of Directors had forced him out of Horch, his first company.
    • It doubles also an acronym for Auto Union der Ingolstadt - the modern Audi has been amalgamated from Horch, Auto Union, NSU and DKW. Its headquarters are in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.
  • Volvo, Latin for I roll
  • Scania is the Latin name of the province Skåne, Sweden, where the brand originates.
  • There is a little town in northeast Georgia (the one in the US) named Subligna. A certain Dr. Underwood suggested the name when it was founded. Subligna meaning "Under wood."
  • In Bavaria, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary, "Servus!" is a colloquial greeting. The fact that it means "[I am your] servant" is practically never thought of.
    • In English, "At your service" is occasionally used as a response to an introduction, rhetorically indicating deference to those one is being introduced to. Such phrasing seems archaic now, but was more commonly used in the past.
    • In Italian, the very famous word "ciao" ("hi" and "bye") comes from the Venetian language, where it was once said "Sciao tuo", meaning "your servant", coming from the Medieval latin "sclavus [tuus]". However, the term "sclavus" itself was not an original latin word (classical latins used the word "servus" for all servants and slaves), but a new-coinage vernacular word coming from the Slav people which were considered servant by mani Venetian and German nobles during the Middle Ages.
  • From an old high school Latin class: O sibili der dego fortibus es enero. O nobili demis trux. Vatis inem cowsen dux. Oh see Billy, there they go, forty busses in a row. Oh no Billy, them is trucks. What is in them? Cows and ducks.
    • There's also the very similar "Civile se ergo Fortibus es in ero O nobile deus trux Vadis enem causan dux"note , which looks a bit more like real Latin.
    • Caesar adsum jam forte, Brutus aderat. Caesar sic in omnibus, Brutus sic in at. Caesar had some jam for tea, Brutus had a rat. Caesar sick in omnibus, Brutus sick in hat.
  • If you find it useful in conversation use this Universal Translator here, apply a little inventiveness and you will have a Latin saying for whenever you want it.
  • While French was the lingua franca in most European countries around 17th century, the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would still use Latin in that capacity. Even the most uncultured, backwater nobleman knew at least a few words and some basics of Latin grammar; Latin macaronisms were often used for emphasis in everyday conversations, and the more Latin you used, the more important you sounded...
  • The law in Western countries (as mentioned in a few of the examples) is in love with seemingly random uses of Latin, derived from the old days when that was the language the lawyers (being educated people) used to do their business. Seemingly random, as the Latinisms go from the more or less unnecessary to the slightly more justified to the indispensable. For instance:
    1. Basically unnecessary: Ignorantia juris non excusat, an old legal maxim, doesn't say anything the ordinary English phrase "Ignorance of the law is no excuse" couldn't say just as well.
    2. Semi-justified: Certiorari, which means a notice filed with a lower court that its decision is being appealed. "Certification" could work and is used in some jurisdictions—e.g. California and New Jersey—but since "certification" has other meanings in the lawnote  and the other alternatives (writ of review, leave to appeal, and other permutations on that) are a bit clunky and (more importantly) don't abbreviate to the traditional "cert.", the old Latin has a reason to stay.
    3. Completely necessary: Qui tam (short for Qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, "He who as much for our lord the King as much as for himself pursues this action"), a term for a particular kind of case in which (in essence) private parties sue someone to enforce government regulatory policy (common in "whistleblower" cases against contractors who defrauded the government, cases by shareholders against corporate managers where violation of securities laws is implicated, and private civil suits to enforce antitrust/competition law) and expects to receive some or all of the punitive damages imposed on the defendant should they, the plaintiffs, win the case.note  Obviously, this complex thing needs its own name; just as obviously, the literal translation of the Latin qui tam, "[he] who as much," and even the less literal "[he] who sues" is wholly inadequate as a name for anything, the usual description/explanation "private attorney general" is very clunky and not especially descriptive, and more or less nothing else presents itself as a likely name.
  • Quite a few titles trace their roots back to Latin used by the Romans and continue to see use to this day, such as "Senator" (comes from senex - old man and referred to members of the Senātus, or the Senate as we'd say in English), "Pastor" (now a title for a type of Christian clergyman, it's Latin for "Shepherd"), "Doctor" (comes from docere (to teach) and means the same in Latin.), and of course the numerous variations on "Caesar", in reference to Julius Caesar, referring to the head of an empire (The German title of "Kaiser" comes as close as anyone does to pronouncing Caesar's name correctly.)note 
  • In 1845, a boy named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (who would later create his better-known Pen Name by translating the Latinization of his name back into English) inscribed the following on one of his schoolbooks:
    PRAEFATIO. Hic liber ad Carolum Ludrigum Dodsonum pertinet. O Lector! cave ne illum capias, nam latro Jovi est odius. Ecce! Lat.
  • Papers in scientific journals describing a new species are still required to have a paragraph at the beginning with a basic description of the species in Latin. Justified by Latin being somewhat of a common language among biologists throughout the world despite the lack of native speakers.
  • In Europe, famous Arabic scholars were often given Latin names - for example, 'Ibn-Sīnā' became 'Avicenna' - to parallel them with respected Classical Roman philosophers. Early Jesuit visitors to China noticed that a certain 'Great Master Kong' was deeply respected, and so did the same to his name. To this day, English (and most other European languages) still calls 'Kong Fu Zi' Confucius.
  • Across the street from Wrigley Field, home of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, stands a residential building housing the Lakeview Baseball Club, which displays a sign across the top of its facade reading Eamus Catuli.Lat. Alongside this is a smaller sign with "AC" followed by a series of numbers; the "AC" is short for Anno Catuli,Lat. while the numbers represent the total years since the Cubs' last National League Central, National League pennant, and World Series titles respectively. (At the start of the 2016 season, this latter sign read AC0871108; following the conclusion of the 2016 World Series, which ended in the Cubs winning their first world championship since 1908, the sign was reset to AC000000.)
  • Most versions of the LISP programming language use NIL (short for nihil, meaning "nothing") to represent logical false and/or the empty list. At one point in the development of LISP 1.5, T (the logical true value) was allegedly changed to VERITAS-NUMQUAM-PERIT ("truth never dies"), but that didn't stick. Around the same time, a function for printing the system time named TEMPUS-FUGIT was added to MIT's CTSS version, though this didn't spread to other installations.

 
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Charlie's Final Test

Mr. Wonka gives Charlie one final test before giving him a lifetime supply of chocolate ... and more.

Example of:
Secret Test of Character

Alternative Title(s): Altum Videtur

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Charlie's Final Test

Mr. Wonka gives Charlie one final test before giving him a lifetime supply of chocolate ... and more.

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