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I'm a programmer and I regularly write small utility programs for friends and family. Since I like a joke, all those programs have help/about forms that describe the program as having been produced by a completely fictional company. So far so boring. However, I would like my "company" to have a motto* in Latin and the motto I have chosen is "Let's go to work" but specifically in the sense Joe Cabot uses in Reservoir Dogs — short clip here.

Refining my searches a bit (my Google-fu must be weak), I keep coming up with "et eamus ad operandum", so I suppose my question is really: is "et eamus ad operandum" valid, and does it actually mean "let's go to work"?

Many thanks to @Rafael and @Joonas Ilmavirta for the guidance and for keeping me plugging away.

*Motto might not even be the right word, but you know what I mean.

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    Hi, and welcome to the site. For your question to be on-topic, you need to show an effort to translate it yourself (preferably more than just Google Translate, usually not very good) and ask for corrections/suggestions. Many of us are eager to help!
    – Rafael
    May 11, 2017 at 13:25
  • Hi @Rafael - I have tried searching Google (not Translate, which I have read on here is pretty much no use whatsoever) but have found zero answers; I have no Latin myself so I'm a bit adrift here. If I am off-topic (for which I apologize), please just have a mod close the question; I admit it is a bit of an odd one. I can edit in my last couple of searches if that will help.
    – Spratty
    May 11, 2017 at 14:13
  • Give this a try before you give up ;)
    – Rafael
    May 11, 2017 at 16:29
  • @Spratty Welcome to the site! It's perfectly fine if you don't know any Latin, and I can blame no one for steering clear of Google Translate, but I do suggest editing in what you could figure out yourself, no matter how little it is. Looking at any of the many online Latin dictionaries (Rafael linked to one) might help you find the kind of word for "work" you want. I will put this on hold now, but I will immediately reopen once you edit to add details. (The closure reason is not descriptive.)
    – Joonas Ilmavirta ♦
    May 11, 2017 at 17:42
  • This clip might provide more context for the precise nuance of "Let's go to work."
    – Ben Kovitz
    May 13, 2017 at 7:39

1 Answer 1

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  1. "Let's ..." is formed using the present active subjunctive first person plural form.

  2. Your sentence can be rendered as "let's work" or "let's go to [a figurative place called] work".

  3. There are two ways to write Latin: with macron or without macron. (Obviously there are other ways, such as with apices, with breves, etc.) Macrons are used in a more academical context, so you may want the version without macrons.

  4. There are three ways to speak Latin: the reconstructed classical way (weni, widi, wiki), the ecclesiastical way (veni, vidi, vici), the English way (veenai, vidai, vichai). You may want the English way.

  5. In the Classical pronunciations,ː signifies a long vowel.

Let's work

First translation

  • With macron: Labōrēmus.
  • Without macron: Laboremus.
  • Classical: la.boː.REː.mus
  • Ecclesiastical: la.bo.RE.mus
  • English: luh-bow-REE-muhs

Second translation

  • With macron: Operēmur.
  • Without macron: Operemur.
  • Classical: o.pe.REː.mur
  • Ecclesiastical: o.pe.RE.mur
  • English: oh-puh-RE-mer

Let's go to work

  • With macron: Ad labōrem eāmus.
  • Without macron: Ad laborem eamus.
  • Classical: ad.la.BOː.re.me.Aː.mus
  • Ecclesiastical: ad.la.BO.rem.e.A.mus
  • English: ad-luh-BOW-ruhm-ee-EI-muhs

Note that "ad labōrem" can be switched with "eāmus".

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  • "Ad laborem eamus" it is then - thank you for your help, @Leaky Nun - super code-golfer and Latin expert :-)
    – Spratty
    May 15, 2017 at 11:11
  • @Spratty Far from an expert.
    – Leaky Nun
    May 15, 2017 at 11:46

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