How to Insult, Abuse & Insinuate in Classical Latin

by Michelle Lovric, Nikiforos Doxiadis Mardas

When your contempt has reached classical proportions, crude Anglo-Saxon expletives just won't cut the mustard. Learn to express your outrage in the words of such late, great Romans as Horace, Cicero, Virgil, and Ovid -- guys who could "dis" with class! Unapologetically quoting these famous Latin writers entirely out of context, the authors have compiled a witty, wicked little lexicon of insults and invective that will soon have you demeaning, defaming, and degrading your enemies with real "animus." 6 1/2" x 7 1/4". Black-and-white illustrations.

Genres: Language, Humor, Nonfiction, Reference, Linguistics, Classics, Historical

66 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Michelle Lovric is a novelist, writer and anthologist.

Her third novel, The Remedy, was long-listed for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction. The Remedy is a literary murder-mystery set against the background of the quack medicine industry in the eighteenth century.

Her first novel, Carnevale, is the story of the painter Cecilia Cornaro, described by The Times as the possessor of ‘the most covetable life’ in fiction in 2001.

In Lovric’s second novel, The Floating Book, a chorus of characters relates the perilous beginning of the print industry in Venice. The book explores the translation of raw emotion into saleable merchandise from the points of view of poets, editors, publishers – and their lovers. The Floating Book, a London Arts award winner, was also selected as a WH Smith ‘Read of the Week’.

Her first novel for young adult readers, The Undrowned Child, is published by Orion. The sequel is due in summer 2010.

Her fourth adult novel, The Book of Human Skin, is published by Bloomsbury in Spring 2010.

Lovric reviews for publications including The Times and writes travel articles about Venice. She has featured in several BBC radio documentaries about Venice.

She combines her fiction work with editing, designing and producing literary anthologies including her own translations of Latin and Italian poetry. Her book Love Letters was a New York Times best-seller.

Lovric divides her time between London and Venice. She holds a workshop in her home in London with published writers of poetry and prose, fiction and memoir.

Reviews

[Sarah Morgan Sandquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loses 1.5 stars for loose, inaccurate translations and .5 of a star because the writing was sometimes hard to read, the product of red text on a red crosshatch background. However, the literary references were entertaining and the phrases in to work on in Latinate pronounciation. A fun read for Latin students bored of traditional practice phrases.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Lovric and Nikiforos Doxiadia Mardas, How to Insult, Abuse, and Insinuate in Classical Latin (Barnes and Noble, 2004)

Exactly what it claims to be: a tome on how to insult, abuse, and insinuate in classical Latin. A compendium of quotes (bilingually presented, of course) from ancient Roman authors, poets, and statesmen of questionable taste. The translation is necessarily loose in places (and loose in others for humor's sake), but still. It's fun to insult someone and not have them understand a word of it. ****

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Some parts were funny, some interesting. I wasn't sure I needed a whole section just on how women, as a whole, suck. I know it's not the author's words - they just put it together, but that section was really in poor taste and not needed. Overall, I'm left feeling slightly underwhelmed.

[Literary Chic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little book. Would be a funny gift. Kind of a tongue and cheek look at famous Latin puns and innuendo.

[River Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Do you call that a face or a running sore?", Juvenal

"Everything you say is so unbearably boring, by Hercules, that it's murder by monotony", Plautus

"He's not a man, he's a compendium of weirdness", Plautus

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful little book! Aside from just being attractive, with classically-themed images throughout, it gives the reader taste of the nasty invective that the Romans were capable of concocting. Insults are presented with the Latin, an English translation (which can occasionally be loose for humorous effect, but that's forgivable since it captures the feel of the Latin), and both the author of the quote and the work that the quote is from, which is especially nice. It's definitely not for the squeamish, since it covers the entire spectrum of ancient Roman insult, and that can be quite distasteful to a modern audience at times. But it's definitely entertaining, and it makes a great gift for any fan of ancient Rome.

[Meaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than just your typical "how to curse in Latin" book, this offers actual insults and abuses spoken/written by the ancients themselves, as well as cool illustrations. WIN. If you want something similar (and longer, but without the illustrations, alas) try Philip Matyczak's Classical Compendium.

[Winterfae *spiro, spero* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful! Definetly need to use some curses on some people I know... ;) This book might be rated PG due to some language... but it was very entertaining and can prove extremely useful and fun. It was very short, however, and I wish it had a pronunciation key.

[Christian Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A humorous and totally farcical look at latin insults.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book I bought back in the 90s. Bits of Latin to titillate the illiterati.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but very entertaining.

[Jonathan]

None

[Miriam]

From Ovid you there is an insult that reads like a medical diagnosis: Impurae matris prolapsus ab alvo.

[Merilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tired of english insults? Try latin. I chuckled out loud with this book.

[Greg Converse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mufrius, non magister, or, you are not a guru, you are a gorilla, I took as a compliment. Otherwise, a good scholarly read of dead insults.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

very simply a collection of insults in Latin.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant idea. So much respect for Lovric (and, naturally all the famous Romans who unknowingly contributed).

[JoAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

bc torlone was out and i already finished all my chapter 9 stuf...

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly excuse to enjoy rude comments from antiquity :) I can't speak to the scholarship, but it is a fun read.

[Laurelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was fun. Their translations were decidedly on the creative side, reminding me pleasantly of some of the nonsense we generated from the Aeneid in high school.

[Kristen Fort · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fun little book has quotes upon quotes from all the favorite Roman authors. Must-have for any Latin teacher. :-D

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not what it was billed as. It's basically a book of quotes, most of which were insulting in some way... It's a tiny (small and thin) book. There's only a few quotes per page, with drawings and arty pictures of statues and other Romanesque things. I paid $5 for my copy... It was about $4 too much

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The translations aren't always the most accurate but the authors own up to it. Some of the translations are also aggressively British, which obviously isn't a bad thing but it's good to know.

The format is very fun and unique but sometimes the color of the text and the color of the background were too similar and it was difficult to read.

[Nina Misson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted this book since (classical) grammar school days, and I couldn't pass it today when it was on super sale. It's a very quick and funny read and makes me fell all the long hours I spent learning conjugations years ago were not wasted.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so funny.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as fun or funny as I've hoped.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine.
I had hoped that it would be more instructional, but it's not at all bad for what it is.

[Shel Gillen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly entertaining

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite sure why I own this. A fun idea in theory.

[Ann Balk · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Worms 😡” WTF JAJAJAJJA