Illegitimi Non Carborundum in the United States
Illegitimi Non Carborundum in the Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary
“Illegitimi Non Carborundum Don’t let the bastards get you down. “Illegitimi Non
Carborundum” is a popular motto in mock Latin that is seemingly beloved of a certain
stripe of lawyer, who universally accepts it as meaning, literally, “Don’t let the bastards
grind you down.”
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”
Actually, it was invented in the twentieth century and means nothing sensible in Latin at all. If one must say such things, a more appropriate formulation is “Nunquam filii canis sinam vincere.” (1)
Notes
- “Illegitimi Non Carborundum”. Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary