pig latin (fwd) (fwd)

[Mark A Mandel]

On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

#I don't think it's from "pidgin".
#
#"Pig Latin", "hog Latin", etc. are old expressions; the most common one in
#the 19th century was perhaps "dog Latin", which may be to Latin as
#"doggerel verse" is to verse ... that is, "dog" meaning "inferior", perhaps
#referring to the Latin proficiency expected from a dog.

Maybe the best-known example of (what can be called) dog Latin, in the
US at least, is "non illegitimis carborundum", "translated" as 'don't
let the bastards grind you down'.

-- Mark M.