Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

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{{cquote|'''''[[Bullshit|Ecce merdam tauri!]]'''''}}

'''Anything said in [[Latin]] sounds profound.''' No, really, that's what "''Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur''" translates into English as. In other words, if it's incomprehensible and unexplained, don't take it at face value.

Nonetheless, abusing Latin for [[Deepity|pseudo-profundity]] remains very popular with doctors, snobs, etc. One of the few practical applications of a knowledge of Latin is making sport of people who do this.

==Examples==
The use of the [[Bible]] texts provides the classic case of Latinate mystification in history. From the early [[Middle Ages]] onward, the {{wpl|Latin Church|Western Church}} deliberately used {{wpl|Jerome||'s}} [[Vulgate|translation of the Bible]] into classical Latin, a language which became less and less comprehensible to the uneducated masses as classical Latin gave way to medieval {{wpl|vulgar Latin}} and later {{wpl|Language change|evolved}} into the separate {{wpl|Romance languages||.}} Using hifalutin {{wpl| Mumbo jumbo (phrase)|mumbo-jumbo}} [[magick]] enabled the Western [[European]] clergy to conveniently "interpret" the Bible to mean whatever they [[free will|wanted]] and increased the power of the [[priest]]-[[caste]] relative to the importance of the [[Word of God|Word]].

Until the adoption of the printing press in the 15<sup>th</sup> century, almost all books in Europe were produced in Latin (or in ancient Greek) because all educated people learned classical Latin and it thus functioned as a "universal" language for the "in" crowd.

In the [[UK]], Latin was formerly an essential part of a gentleman's education, but today it is seldom taught in state schools and Latin classes are restricted to the most expensive fee-paying schools. Hence it is particularly popular with a certain type of posh, privately-educated British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician such as [[Boris Johnson]] and [[Jacob Rees-Mogg]].<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/7445850/This-lunacy-about-Latin-makes-me-want-to-weep-with-rage.html This lunacy about Latin makes me want to weep with rage], Boris Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, 15 Mar 2010</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/06/jacob-rees-mogg-isnt-old-fashioned-thoroughly-modern-bigot-suzanne-moore Jacob Rees-Mogg isn’t old-fashioned, he’s a thoroughly modern bigot], Suzanne Moore, The Guardian, 6 September 2017</ref>

==In other languages==
In English, which nowadays is ~30% Latin in vocabulary already, Latin abuse is somewhat justifiable, as it lacks the feature of word compounding. Although this ''is'' the result of abusing Latin like this for centuries.

But the situation of Latin abuse is worse in other languages that are neither based on Latin nor English, and have no need for foreign words either. In such languages, notably German, the usage of Latin (and in the past also English) can be almost exclusively attributed to this kind of abuse.

==See also==
*''[[Argumentum ex culo]]''
*[[Harry Potter]]

===Similar things===
*Chinese/Japanese character tattoos. (And English word tattoos in China and Japan.)
*[[Sesquipedalianism]] — Ditto, but focusing on the ''length'' of the words.

==External links==
*{{wpl|Inkhorn term}} – For anything said in ''any'' foreign languages

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Fallacious arguments]]
[[Category:Informal fallacies]]
[[Category:Latin phrases]]

Categories: Fallacious arguments, Informal fallacies, Latin phrases