Cameron on Letterman, good/bad/indifferent?

[youngmafbog]

OK, he fluffed his History whcih the media are slating him for, but every interview I have heard with our Septic cousins seems to indicate they find it refreshing that it was not scripted (as they thin a US Presidens woud be)

[emmie]

webbo, welcome to the club..

[FredPuli43]

Cameron handled pub quiz questions; on trivial fact that doesn't matter; with charm. But it's plain that Latin taught at school didn't stick

Thatcherite, what your school motto was meant to convey was the idea that if you work hard you'll overcome all difficulties and succeed in life. Bit hard to put in three words! This school motto can be translated to suit the audience. Baroness Thatcher would like "Work beats everything", Ed Miiliband would like "Labour beats the lot", but a better translation is "Hard work overcomes all things' Latin 'labor' carries the suggestion of toil, of exertion, labouring away.

[pdq1]

Letterman uses very belitting techniques as we were promised. Did he have to sit in a chair that made his interviewer look like a midget?

[bibblebub]

Everyone in that video wants to bomb Australia - is that such a bad idea?

[ichkeria]

I'd hope Ed Miliband would, like me, only translate 'Labor Omnia Vincit' as 'Labour beats the lot' as a joke(!)

[Ann]

Magna Carta? Gosh my Latin teacher would have been so proud of me - I yelled it out when DC was hesitating! Didn't he remember his Latin from Eton?

[DTCwordfan]

stultus fatuo, non suum memorari Latine....

[dotty.]

garth has been on letterman loads and always managed to sound intelligent and focused, david should listen to garth more

[Ann]

Spill the beans - thats mighty advanced Latin DT - I gave it up after the 4th form :)

[DTCwordfan]

Stupid idiot, not remembering his Latin......

[Ann]

You just beat me to it DT, I translated it on a free translation website! I only remember declining the word "war"
Bellum, bellum, bellum, bellee. bellow, bellow, bellar, bellar, bellar, bellorum, bellis, bellis .....or something which sounded like that LOL
Our text book was "Psuedolus noster" about a little Roman boy who got into so many scrapes! Remember that from 1962!

[ichkeria]

I did think it was rather odd that Cameron should be subjected to this test on a TV programme. I've never seen David Letterman: is this a regular occurrence? I'd have thought it would have made more sense for his to be quizzed, if on anything, then on the USA.

"stultus fatuo, non suum memorari Latine.... "

That doesn't look right to me :-)
As a matter of interest I tried "I am a large man" on Google translator and it came back as:
"Ego sum hominem magnum" - go to the bottom of the class!

[FredPuli43]

Letterman always does something like this to his guests, not necessarily an instant quiz, to make them a little uncomfortable. But he is never cruel, he just hopes from some impromptu reaction to amuse the audience.

Cameron was regarded as brave to go on the show. American politicians and stars demand advance information about what is to be asked on such shows.

And yes, don't trust Google or any online translation service for Latin. It's inclined not to understand that Latin nouns take endings according to what is happening to them (whether they are the subject or object of the verb, for example), among other things like 'sum' (I am) not having the subject (I, a man) in the accusative. (DT's effort doesn't look right to me either , ichkeria LOL)