semper ubi sub ubi
English translation: [It's an old, old joke...]
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| 00:11 Aug 23, 2000 |
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|  Selected response from: Wigtil (X) | |||
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| na +1 | [It's an old, old "macaronic" joke.] |
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| na | could this be a joke - a play on words? |
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| na | Always wear underwear |
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Answers
34 mins
could this be a joke - a play on words? Explanation: Literally it means "always where under where" or " always wear underware,". That's all I've got -may it help! |
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51 mins
Always wear underwear Explanation: This is the meaning. |
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8 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
[It's an old, old "macaronic" joke.] Explanation: "Semper ubi sub ubi" is meaningless as a Latin sentence, as Happyfarm has pointed out. This is an instance of what is called "macaronic" text, where one language is used in a phonetic or even semantic fashion to create meaningful expressions in a different language. Latin is a favorite target, since so many bored students have been forced to study it over the centuries. So the meaningless Latin phrase that can be rendered only as, "always where under where", actually is meaningful in English, since the pseudo-translation yields a sentence similar to a (silly) English sentence. Other instances include, "Ubi o ubi est meus sububi," the long verse beginning with "Sidere vili derdago...", and the gut-wrenching rhyme starting with "Caesar adsum jam forte, Pompeius aderat...." You have to pronounce most of these with English values for all the letters, of course, rather than Latin ones. People have even published scholastic articles on such topics in classics journals. You might enjoy researching these! |
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