Latin phrase meaning, Say nothing but good things about the dead.
Good advice to follow if you wish to avoid hauntings.
Attention wonks:
Latin may be a 'dead language' but that doesn't mean you should translate it into dead English. So for your benefit I present you with a more 'literal translation'. Ready? Here it is:
Of the dead, nothing other than good.
What? I don't even see a verb!
How perceptive.
That can't be good Latin.
I didn't make it up.
Well, whoever said it didn't know how to speak Latin.
Look it's simple. De+ the ablative is a common way to introduce a topic of conversation, and while that's good enough for Latin, we have to supply a verb if we want it to make sense in English.
Oh.
Listen, I do this for free. When I choose to do a translation node, I don't do it to impress you with my ability in Classical Languages. I noded this so that hoi polloi could have a quick and accurate translation of a common Latin phrase. If you want to take issue with my rendition, by all means, node it.