what is this and what does it say?

A very old joke - Non illegiemtum te carborundum meant in fake Latin 'Dont let the bastarddgrind you down' used in the Hand aids Tale but I remember it as a teenager with n the 60s

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RunRevolutionary188@reddit

It is made up latin? I need to re-read the book tbh. Big margaret atwood fan.

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SnooHabits8484@reddit

dog Latin, not pig Latin. Pig Latin is scrambled English.

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miIk-skin@reddit

Nevermind, sorry, I was just trying to help. I'll delete my comment 😞

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BuncleCar@reddit

Pig Latin for pig Latin is igpay atinlay, and Double Dutch for double Dutch is Ubbledum Utchdum

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lameuniqueusername@reddit

Ooh didn’t know that’s a thing but I like it.

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publiusnaso@reddit

It’s made-up. “Carborundum” doesn’t mean anything in Latin, but sounds like it does. It’s a trade name (I think) of a form of grinding paste used in engineering, hence the “grind you down” part.

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celem83@reddit

yeah its a trademark of silicon carbide

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TheLeggacy@reddit

It’s an engineers joke, carborundum is a trade marked name for Silicon Carbide that is used on grinding wheels etc.

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TuffB80@reddit

Fuck, hand aids sounds bad. Hope you’re okay

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Crookfur@reddit

I remember my dad having a very "posh" regimental style tie with that motto back in the 80s.

Took all my mum's efforts to get him not to wear it to a royal garden party...

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Spiritual_Loss_7287@reddit

the D of E would probably have appreciated it.

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RunRevolutionary188@reddit

I had to google this. I didn't realise this was a thing either. It came from soldiers in WW2?

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batty_61@reddit

I know my Dad, who did national service, used it a lot!

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Riotsla@reddit

I didn't realise it was from handmaid's, I'm justbabout to tart the book. I remember the phrase from 'porridge' the prison show from the 90s

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Riotsla@reddit

Most probably, I must've been watching re runs

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BuncleCar@reddit

Gawd Buncle, that was some terrible typing! 🤪

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ShineAtom@reddit

We also used to say it in the 60s and 70s.

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tykeoldboy@reddit

It's Latin and dates back to the Roman occupation of Britain and translates to Last in Eurovision

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markedasred@reddit

Van Morrison has it on the back of a watch, which i think was given him by Eric Clapton. He added it as a lyric to a song in the last decade

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mdmnl@reddit

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/literaryemporium/product/nolite-te-bastardes-carborundorum-enamel-pin

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

I've never heard of the show.. was it aired on UK tv?

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Riotsla@reddit

When reading or watching try to remember every thing that happens is based on real events In dictatorships, its Scary how easily it could happen

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Least_Temperature_23@reddit

Yes, it was. A dramatisation of the book. The book is excellent, I recommend it if you enjoy reading. Scary stuff.

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Complex-Honeydew-111@reddit

The Testaments and the concomitant fall of Gilead is so good too

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RunRevolutionary188@reddit

I have mixed feelings on The Testaments but I won't spoil.

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I''m going to be *that* person but start with the book. The show is good but then it starts to veer into being unhinged to the point I couldn't watch it anymore. It started to feel like it was fetishising violence in a way that wasn't actually helpful.

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Feersum_endjjinn@reddit

Read the book. In fact everything by that author is amazing.

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CaptainParkingspace@reddit

Six seasons on Prime iirc

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834204/episodes

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Complex-Honeydew-111@reddit

Er yes, just a bit

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mdmnl@reddit

Book, movie, show, spin-off show. Think the show made it to channel 4 eventually.

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

I will have to have a look...thank you

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

had to google handmaids tale..interesting thanks

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dronebox@reddit

Hard to believe you were not aware of The Handmaids Tale but glad you now are.. As with much of Margaret Atwood’s work, it’s well worth a read.. There’s a multi-series television adaptation too..

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

I don't own a tv.. and having adhd i can never focus to read a book.. but i will definitely have a look on my laptop now . Thank you for the response :)

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Riotsla@reddit

I'd recommend using the kindle app, there's a dyslexia font. I have all kinds of neurodiversities and have gone 35 years without being able to finish a page. I found the font yesterday (font size 7 on the old kindle) & I blasted through the first 2 hunger games & have nearly finished mocking Jay, having a break after finnicks scene but will pick it back up shortly. Fuck Jeff besos but this app has seriously changed my life

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

thank you i shall try it ...its my brain that doesn't focus as it has its own mind so to speak ..podcasts work with me sometimes. but i still have to really focus to stop my mind wondering off.

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dronebox@reddit

Would an audiobook work.. You could listen whilst walking the dog and picking up shiny things.. ;-)

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

what a brilliant idea.. thank you I enjoy podcasts alot

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Minimum_Salad9372@reddit

It was also in Terry Pratchett

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dronebox@reddit

Monstrous Regiment is where you’ll find references to it… Although there’s a hint of Latin in a lot of Discworld literature.. ;-)

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Normal-Height-8577@reddit

I could have sworn it turned up in at least one of the City Watch books, too.

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dronebox@reddit

I good excuse, if ever one is needed, to re-read all of The Watch series.. ;-)

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lameuniqueusername@reddit

MR is probably my favorite Sir Pterry standalone

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Surface_Detail@reddit

Because I knead the dough

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dayofthe_misanthrope@reddit

I also thought I'd seen it in a Pratchett book too, Men at Arms maybe? It feels very Sgt Colon.

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bored_toronto@reddit

Shouldn't it be "Ne te confundum illigitimi"?

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GlitteringBryony@reddit

The eye logo and general stylings makes me think it might be something to do with Scarfolk Council (Which is a sort of folk horror hauntology project that pastiches British mid-century public information films and Ladybird books and the general "look" of the UK in the 1970s).

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sins-remembered@reddit

Don’t let the bastards get you down

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TheRealJustSean@reddit

It is so much older than that TV show

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chocklityclair@reddit

It's from WW2. If you read some of the articles about it, it's as though nobody remembers that the first half of the 20th century existed. Weird.

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TheRealJustSean@reddit

Right? I've not read one word or seen one second of the handmaid's tale, and I knew this when I was in school decades ago😂

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RunRevolutionary188@reddit

I've got this as a pin. It's pig latin I believe and it's a reference from Handmaid's tale. It means 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'. It's a good lit/feminist reference. Especially now given what is happening with politics in the US/Uk.

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chocklityclair@reddit

Very odd that this article quotes a professor going into great detail about his theories of where the phrase comes from, without understanding that it originated in WW2.

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RunRevolutionary188@reddit

Honestly I'm a lazy researcher at best. My qualifications are .....a BA in psychology which I barely got through because of undiagnosed ADHD......

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

Agreed

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moonbeambird70@reddit

My husbands favourite saying, he's always lived by this..

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Yorks59@reddit

As others have noted, it is fake Latin and it does not say what the translation suggests.

The closest literal/accurate translation is apparently: "Do not permit the illegitimate to have sodium carbide."

Truly, words to live by!

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

indeed!

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ShiftyFly@reddit

to clarify, this isn't proper Latin (although the translation others have given is the general meaning). for example, carborundum is a brand name, not a Latin word, and even if it was it wouldn't decline to carborundorum.

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Acrobatic-Shirt8540@reddit

Google is free

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

so is reddit 😉

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BobMonroeFanClub@reddit

I must be older than you lot because my first thought was Fletch from Porridge.

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AneeMel@reddit (OP)

😂 i remember

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