Template:Random Latin fact/nobiscum

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Marcus Tullius Cicerō

The Roman statesman Cicero had a folk etymological explanation for why we say nōbīscum and not cum nōbīs.

Why don't we say cum nōbīs, but rather nōbīscum? Because: If we say it the other way, the letters would run together in a rather obscene way.
—Marcus Tullius Cicerō, § 154 Ōrātor ad Brūtum

The joke is: cum nōbīs can easily be misunderstood as cunnō bīs which has a lewd meaning, that we are not going to explain here.

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