What’s the Latin for “D’Oh!”? A New Jersey library engraved its motto on the wall only to discover that it was incorrect. While staff thought “nos secundus coniecto omnia” meant “we confirm all things twice,” the librarian had used Google Translate instead of asking a Latin teacher. The result? The motto could be interpreted as “we guess all things twice,” which would be bad enough, or worse, it could be meaningless. The library’s architect, Rick Ragan told the Burlington County Times he learned of the problem when local residents translated the motto online. And it turned out that they also got the wrong answer.
The reason is because while Google Translate’s software might be fine for giving you a single word, when it comes to translating phrases, it doesn’t understand the rules of Latin grammar. Ragan says he intends to hire a stone mason to alter the phrase to something that means “We encourage all.” Perhaps that should be amended to “We encourage all to check twice.” By the way, the Latin for “D’Oh!” is … “D’Oh!” At least, according to Google Translate.
