# In the dog house



## suzi br

I know this isn't the most serious of questions, but I like to use latinate vocabulary for my students.

Of late I have been threatening to defenestrate rogues who don't submit their work. 

Today one of them said "Will you take me our of the dog house to do that?" because I recently told her that she was in the dog house for not working! 

So, albeit in a totally cod way, can someone offer me the literal phrase for "in the dog house"? 

Many thanks.


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## Cagey

A quick one: You could say someone is "apud canes"(_A pud  Can es_). This is like "chez dogs": "You are at the dogs' place."

"_tu apud canes es_" for one rogue:"_vos apud canes estis_" when the whole class acts up, as I hope they don't.  The pronouns _tu _and _vos_ are emphatic.  Normally they would be omitted.


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## suzi br

Thanks. It's all in a spirit of fun, they are a lovely class with a sense of interest in new words, so I appreciate this and think that they will too!


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## Fred_C

Hi,
The modern use of the Latin language to express casual situations of the modern life should be made so that everyone is able to understand what is meant, provided they know latin.
I do not understand what "in the dog house" means, I suspect it is an English idiom, and it would be a pity to render it literally in Latin, because I understand Latin, and I would not understand what you mean...


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## Cagey

It is indeed an idiom:
*in the doghouse* _Slang_  In great disfavor or trouble. (TheFreeDictionary)​ As suzi says, this is in the spirit of fun, and I'm all for anything that connects Latin and fun.  Her students will know what it means, and perhaps some will even notice the connection between _canes_ and _canine_.


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## suzi br

Yes, they will see the connection. 

@ Fred these are English speaking students so the idiom is well-known to them.

(Defenstration wasn't though!)


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## brian

Yes, it depends completely on who your audience is. I agree with Fred that, if you were translating something that the public would read, e.g. if you wished to publish a translation, you would have to figure out the real sense of the idiom, then find a suitable idiom in Latin.

In your case, however, if you simply want the words to be in Latin and have your students recognize the meaning (albeit as in English idiom), you could go so far as to say: *in casā canis* ("in the house of the dog").

There's a decent chance they could figure that sentence out without knowing any Latin.


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## suzi br

I like* in casá canis* for its alliterative quality, which means I'll probably remember it! 

I was thinking along those lines but it is over 30 years since I did any Latin grammar, and I would not know which case endings to use anymore! Thank-you!


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## brian

_In_ takes the ablative when it describes location, so _casā_, and _canis_ is simply the genitive of _canis_ (nominative and genitive are identical).


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## suzi br

Thank-you!


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