"Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945

[Garson O'Toole]

Barry Popik's site an entry about this phrase with some interesting
background notes. Barry has a cite with a (unverified?) GB date of
1944, a newspaper cite in May 19, 1945, and much more:

Entry from January 22, 2010
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down” (Illegitimi non carborundum)

http://goo.gl/cRGx8

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/dont_let_the_bastards_grind_you_down_illegitimi_non_carborundum/

On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 1:09 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> SiC transit gloria mundi
> DanG
>
>
> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 1:03 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: "Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Noli bastardi te conterent.
>>
>> ("Illegitimi" works but it's an obscure medieval Latin formulation.)
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of
>> Baker, John
>> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 11:35 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: "Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945
>>
>> So what would the real Latin be?  Enquiring minds want to know.
>>
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of
>> Neal Whitman
>> Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 11:09 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: "Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945
>>
>> You're right. It's not funny, because it's bogus Latin. If it had been real
>> Latin, like Henry Beard's Latin for All Occasions, it would have been
>> funny.
>> If it had been the "Romanes eunt domus" part of Monty Python's Life of
>> Brian, it would have been funny, because "Romani ite domum" really is what
>> it would have been in classical Latin. But this grasping "Illegitimi non
>> carborundum" phonus balonus (more bogus Latin, via P.G. Wodehouse) is not
>> funny.
>>
>> Neal
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 9:45 PM
>> Subject: Re: "Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945
>>
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: "Don't let the bastards get you down!" 1945
>> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > ---------
>> >
>> > On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Laurence Horn
>> > <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>> > wrote:
>> >> "ILLIGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM"
>> >
>> > I haven't seen it written down, before. But, it's been repeated to me
>> > a million times. The first 999,999 times, I just didn't get it.
>> >
>> > What? How does it mean that? "Carborundum" is a brand-name. _Non_ is
>> > certainly a negative, but does _illigitimi_ really mean "bastards"?
>> > I'm not sure. And there's nothing in the string that means "grind."
>> > Besides, I didn't know that you had taken Latin! Was it in high school
>> > or in college? Wait. You didn't go to college, right? Let me hear it
>> > again.
>> >
>> > Even after I caught on that it was supposed to be a joke, it still
>> > didn't strike me as funny.
>> >
>> > --
>> > -Wilson
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org