Classicists Acting Classist

Yesterday, I was treated to the pretty funny sight of a badly translated Latin motto. It was for the band program of a university in West Virginia, and can be seen below.

For those that don’t know, plumbum is indeed Latin for lead — as in the poisonous metal. To lead like a leader is duce. It’s a pretty funny mistake, you have to admit, and folks were on point for poking fun at it. Credo and inspire are also incorrect forms of their respective verbs — the last one isn’t even Latin at all I think — though not really funny unless you’re a grammar Nazi.