Paul Krugman asked this question as his response to the U.S. International Court of Trade decision soundly thumping Trump’s tariff mania.
Immediately, I grabbed my Latin-English dictionary.
“Holy” is easy. It sprung to mind without the dictionary. Sacer (sacred to the gods) or sanctus (inviolable), or putting the two together, sacrosanctus (what is held in veneration). Since Trump is neither god nor inviolable — as the Court just demonstrated — I think I’ll go with the double weight of sacrosanctus.
What to do with “shit”? I suspected, and was correct, there is no Latin word for it. I now must wander among euphemisms, although I’m not even going to try “poo,” “poopoo,” or “poop.” Nor “doodoo.” Nor anything to do with baby diapers.
How about “excrement”? Ah, of course. Lest we forget, English is derived from Latin, so excrementum. But far more precise is stercus, which means “dung, muck, manure,” and as a term of reproach, stercus curiae, which I guess could be translated as “shit of the court.”
Nah. Let’s hand curiae back to the International Court of Trade and go with stercus sacrosanctus. Holy shit!
Post scriptum. I have fairly fond memories of translating brilliant Cicero with my father, who’d been a Classics scholar. I trust my herein display of Latin would make him proud.
Post post scriptum. I had a good time doing this. I hope you enjoyed it.