# It's thinking inside the box we have problems with



## undeuxtrois

It's thinking inside the box we have problems with

cogitans intra pyrixis qui difficilis est


This is my very bad attempt - please help!!!


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## vachecow

I think that conveys the general meaning, although you left out the notion of "we".


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## Whodunit

I have to disappoint you, but I'm afraid no Roman would understand your sentence. 

You can't translate the expression to other languages. Since it wouldn't be understandable in German, I should know.  You should better use another phrase or employ a similar expression to have it translated into Latin. As I'm not 100% familiar with "thinking inside the box," though I understand the meaning, I don't dare to make an attempt.



undeuxtrois said:


> It's thinking inside the box we have problems with
> 
> cogitans intra pyrixis (the word is "pyrix" and the accusative here should be "pyridem") qui (since "cogitans" is treated like a neuter noun, "quod" should be used; "qui" is restricted to masculine nouns only) difficilis est
> 
> Your sentence sounds incomplete, although this is how it sounds more "ancient."
> This is my very bad attempt - please help!!!


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## clara mente

You may have better luck by rearranging the sentence a little. If you rephrase it thusly. Thinking inside the box concerns us. Then you can make more sense and so "Cogitare intra pyridem nobis interest." It's perfectly fine many times to put a gerund in English into the nom. infinitive in Latin, keeping in mind that it becomes a neuter noun.


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## jazyk

But I doubt the Romans would understand _think inside a box_. That's something that makes sense only in English, I'm afraid.


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## clara mente

Yes, you are correct. This concept is definitely "current" , but it is fun to exercise one's linguistic abiliities in the application of a literal translation from time to time. Who knows? What the Romans would have come up with had they survived today?


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## Flaminius

Thinking inside the box is a metaphor of stereotypical mentality or thinking with clichés.  I'd Latinise this phrase as:
cogitare captus consuetudine, ea dolor est.
To think being captivated by customs, this is suffering.


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## clara mente

Excellent rendintion, Flaminius. Just one point, don't you think "id" should be used here to compliment "cogitare"?


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## Flaminius

Opps, _id _is the only choice here.  Thanks, clara.  I had this strange idea that _dolor_ is a feminine noun.


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## jazyk

> cogitare captus consuetudine, ea dolor est.
> To think being captivated by customs, this is suffering.


But I'm not sure about captus there. Infinitives are normally neuter (cf. errare humanum est) but the neuter would make no sense here because what we mean is _thinking while one is made captive by customs is suffering_. I suggest masculine plural instead,_ cogitare capti consuetudine, id dolor est. _The masculine plural is found in Italian in impersonal constructions _Bisogna essere attenti (One has to be careful) _in spite of _bisogna_, singular_. _That probably means something.


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## Joca

May I have a hand in this, too?

What about this?

_Cogitare secundum constituta, ecce nobis enim quaestio._
 
_Thinking according to established things, this is indeed our problem._
__ 
JC


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## jazyk

Wow, this one is really nice and fancy. Great job, Joca.


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## Joca

jazyk said:


> Wow, this one is really nice and fancy. Great job, Joca.


 
Thanks Jazyk. I trepidate to say it was really a great job, but since the words are coming from you, I know I have genuine reasons to feel proud. (For a while.  )

Cheers,

JC


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## Telano

Joca's restating is great, but still leaves out the importance placed on trying to think out of the box, or, as a more modern phrase I came up with: Thinking off the chip.
Needless to say, the ancients would really not comprehend that one.
How do we add the current obsession of "doing things, or thinking things" differently?
~Telano


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## Flaminius

Joca said:


> May I have a hand in this, too?
> 
> What about this?
> 
> _Cogitare secundum constituta, ecce nobis enim quaestio._
> 
> _Thinking according to established things, this is indeed our problem._
> 
> JC



Great redaction, Joca.  But I have one question.  Is _quaestio_ to be translated problem?  In classic Latin at least it should mean, "seeking" or "enquiry".


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## Whodunit

Flaminius said:


> Great redaction, Joca. But I have one question. Is _quaestio_ to be translated problem? In classic Latin at least it should mean, "seeking" or "enquiry".


 
The Romans did not have a word for "problem," as we can use it now. You have to translate it as "dispute" what they called "quaestio" or "problema." Speakíng about the latter, I just checked it in my Ancient Greek dictionary, and it is indeed just a borrowing from Greek: πρόβλημα = próblêma (meaning: cliff, dispute, pretext).

I think if you want to use a real Latin word, you should use "quaestio," "problema" is not much better a choice.


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## Joca

Flaminius said:


> Great redaction, Joca. But I have one question. Is _quaestio_ to be translated problem? In classic Latin at least it should mean, "seeking" or "enquiry".


 
I see what you mean. Please have a look at whodunit's previous post. Again, I could come up with a few other words: molestia, difficultas, castigatio, carcer, crux... What do you think? Am I straying away from the original word?

JC


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## Flaminius

> Again, I could come up with a few other words: molestia, *difficultas*, castigatio, carcer, crux...


This reminds me a line by Juvenalis (difficile est saturam non scribere).  How about this?

difficile est non cogitare secundum constituta.


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## Joca

Flaminius said:


> This reminds me a line by Juvenalis. How about this?
> 
> difficile est non cogitare secundum constituta.


 
I am amazed. Would you believe me if I told you that I have never read Juvenalis?

JC


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