Stercus accidit!

[Nicolavs Iacobvs]

I understand that the Romans wouldn’t have used this retort, so a confirmation of its literal translation is all I’m looking for please

Does “Stercus accidit” translate well as “Sh*t happens (occurs)” …as in, it happens now, or will happen, as a general rule?

Many thanks!

 

[Matthaeus]

maybe the vulgar (colloquial) Latin merda occurrit, but I'm not too sure myself as this is an English phrase

 

[Nicolavs Iacobvs]

maybe the vulgar (colloquial) Latin merda occurrit, but I'm not too sure myself as this is an English phrase

It’s a colloquialism to acknowledge the way in which things often don’t happen the way we’d like them to, or more simply - “unfortunate things will happen (to one, or to us)”

I could be wrong, but accidit is perhaps more suitable as it would mean bad things will befall/descend-upon the subject?

 

[Matthaeus]

occurrit is quite literally "to run against"

 

[EstQuodFulmineIungo]

Si umbraculum defuerit: tum non modo aquā, sed et merdā pluet!

On a more serious note,
Tempora nubila currunt/parantur.

(changing a bit Ovid:
Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos, tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris)

There's a more suitable expression I've heard once, but I can't recall it now. Anyway, in a difficult situation you can always say "hic sunt leones".

 

[syntaxianus]

You have to ask, would these words ever be used as a general way to say "bad things"?

Better to say Infelicitas fit. Misfortune happens.

Or

Oportet [fieri] miserias. There's got to be troubles.

 

[Nicolavs Iacobvs]

Thank you all, but it’s the humour of the english phrase “sh*t happens” that I like, and it’s that that I’d like the best literal translation for, hence asking whether Stercus accidit is a good literal translation. I understand the modern meaning won’t translate well.

 

[Godmy]

This is why it's often good to know well at least two modern languages, so you can easily see whether some expression is just language-specific and therefore is unlikely to be present in the original Latin and shouldn't be reworded there either. (unless for some inner joke for another Latinist, speaker of the same modern language.... but then he may just note the same as I did: that it's incorrect -> & the joke is lost)

 

[Nicolavs Iacobvs]

Hi Sima, as an expression, I know it isn’t present elsewhere; and I think I conceded that clearly ab initio. I’m not looking to time-travel and utter this phrase to the guy next to me in the amphitheatre. The words and grammar exist to translate this well, literally only (regardless of meaning); but I’m not skilled enough to be sure about the suggested translation. It was such a simple request, and I hadn’t expected to get so many replies, but none answering my question directly.

 

[Godmy]

Hi Sima, as an expression

That's not my nickname, but ... whatever please you ;p

Yes, I didn't accuse you of not conceding the fact that the phrase may be problematic, I simply wanted to add this point in general to this kind of discussion, because this sort of problem appears often (even if you weren't 'stricken' by it yourself, so to speak).

 

[EstQuodFulmineIungo]

@Godmy :
Do you think:
in piscem desinere is idiomatic to say the outcome of a plan, an enterprise and the like isn't what you expected?
(You find it in Horace and elsewhere too e.g. ut turpiter atrum desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne)

 

[Godmy]

Hard to say, it depends if you can find it anywhere else as well, on the other hand, why would Horace use something that looks like an idiom that would be incomprehensible to everyone else, right

 

[Nicolavs Iacobvs]

That's not my nickname, but ... whatever please you ;p

Sorry for that - I misread your title completely.

 

[syntaxianus]

Hi Sima, as an expression, I know it isn’t present elsewhere; and I think I conceded that clearly ab initio. I’m not looking to time-travel and utter this phrase to the guy next to me in the amphitheatre. The words and grammar exist to translate this well, literally only (regardless of meaning); but I’m not skilled enough to be sure about the suggested translation. It was such a simple request, and I hadn’t expected to get so many replies, but none answering my question directly.

Yes you were clear about what you wanted: a calque, not a real translation into a meaningful Latin phrase. So to answer you: If you want to say something happens, accidit is correct.

[accido]​

​

II. Fig.​

A. In gen., to fall out, come to pass, happen, occur; and with dat. pers., to happen to, to befall one. (The distinction between the syn. evenio, accido, and contingo is this: evenio, i. e. ex-venio, is used of either fortunate or unfortunate events: accido, of occurrences which take us by surprise; hence it is used either of an indifferent, or, which is its general use, of an unfortunate occurrence: contingo, i. e. contango, indicates that an event accords with one's wishes; and hence is generally used of fortunate events. As Isid. says, Differ. 1: Contingunt bona: accidunt mala: eveniunt utraque): res accidit, Caes. B. G. 1, 14​

​

 

[Nicolavs Iacobvs]

Thanks @syntaxianus

 

[syntaxianus]

You are very welcome.