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I've been trying to use Google Translate to create a version of "Caveat Emptor" (Buyer Beware or Let the Buyer Beware) that reflects the idea of

  • Let the answerer beware
  • Let the respondent beware
  • Let the writer beware

Over at Worldbuilding we're having a bit of a discussion about whether or not to edit questions such that existing answers are invalidated, and I'm of the opinion that the question is more important than the answer (but that's just a bit of back story).

Unfortunately, Google Translate is giving me, not just garbage, but something worse than garbage as the phrases it's proposing don't re-translate into English as anything but gibberish.

  • Cave scriptor (caveat scriptor)
  • Cave interrogantem (caveat interrogantem)
  • Cave conventae notificari

I'm especially fond of that third one, which the re-translation into English produces, "Beware of the respondent." I could claim that as the current motto of Worldbuilding.

Could the Latin-speaking community propose an appropriate phrase that reflects the idea of "let those who answer questions before they're ready beware?" The answer with the greatest brevity will be selected as the best.

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    Caveat interrogator: brevity surely isn't a sufficient condition for being the "best answer" :)
    – brianpck
    Dec 2, 2020 at 22:48
  • @brianpck 😝 Indeed! Beware the OP! And, surely not, but I know absolutely squat about Latin. It was the only condition for a best answer I could think of.
    – JBH
    Dec 2, 2020 at 23:41

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I'd go for caveat responsor to keep as much of the original grammar as possible and get the meaning you want.

Responsor is literally the one that answers or replies.

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  • Unfortunately interrogantem refers to the one asking, and conventae notificari does not mean what you are looking for.
    – Rafael
    Dec 2, 2020 at 20:13

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