You really can’t make this stuff up:
A group of Republican lawmakers is protesting the removal a reference to God in the patch logo for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO).
The 35 lawmakers, led by Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), wrote a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz urging them to restore the logo with a reference to God.
Forbes warned that the action taken by the RCO could set a “dangerous precedent” when it comes to religion and the military.
“The action taken by the RCO suggests that all references to God, regardless of their context, must be removed from the military,” Forbes wrote. “As we are confident that your legal advisors would not suggest that censorship is required for compliance with the First Amendment, we ask that you reverse this perplexing decision.”
The patch logo was changed after a military atheist group, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, protested the reference to God on the patch. The patch has a saying on it in Latin, which is common for military patches, that tranlates to: “Doing God’s Work with Other People’s Money.”
The saying was then changed last month to say: “Doing Miracles with Other People’s Money.”
It’s official: We are the Roman empire’s dim-witted step son. Still, though, the Air Force must be given credit for its honesty. But before we get to the hilariously unintentional candor of the slogan, how about we engage in some philological phact-checking?
The original slogan reads: “Opus Dei Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus”
The translation provided by the Hill is probably what the Air Force meant to say (this is hilarious on its own terms), but it’s light-years away from the actual Latin, which is untranslatable. There are two main grammatical errors here: first, the use of “cum” in lieu of the ablative of means. “Cum” is a versatile word that, when used a preposition, most commonly translates into “with” to indicate accompaniment. ”Cum” can also be used adverbially to express relations of time, causation, and concession. To express instrumentality or the “means by which” something is done (clearly the intent here), a noun simply takes the ablative case; the cum is not only unnecessary, it’s fragrantly incorrect. Then there’s the verb. Efficemus presumably comes from the verb efficere, meaning to bring about, execute, produce, etc. Unfortunately, the form “efficemus” simply doesn’t exist. The verb is 3rd conjugation, which means that the present 1st person plural indicative would be Efficimus; the future 1st person plural indicativ– if that’s what they meant to use– would be Efficiemus. Well, I guess that rules out google translate…
The “corrected” version is similarly abominable. “Miraculi,” is the object of the non-existent verb “Efficiemus” and therefore should take the accusative case, not the plural nominative as it does here. As it currently stands, the slogan is even more unintelligible than the original, translating into something like “The miracles (this is the subject) we will do (some implied object) along with the money of others.” Of course, this is a rather harsh interpretation. Miraculi could also be the the plural nominative substantive of the adjective miraculus,-a,-um meaning freakish, deformed, or strange, rendering a translation like “We the strange/freakish/deformed people will do (implied object) along with the money of others.” I’m willing to give the Air Force the benefit of the doubt and assume they meant the latter.
The really striking thing about the whole story, of course, is the fact that no one took issue with the “pecunia alienum” part of the slogan. I highly doubt that the intrepid representatives were suddenly overcome with a bout of honesty, so I’ll go ahead and assume none of them actually read the slogan or its purported translation. That being said, I sincerely hope they keep it as is. In fact, the Congress should just accept it as their own. The gaping chasm between the intended meaning and the actual Latin is wonderfully apt, after all. Give us your money and watch us work miracles, they’ll say. Just don’t expect us to get our fucking Latin right.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
