Celebrities

What Elon Musk's Latin quote actually means

What Elon Musk's Latin quote actually means
Elon Musk promises 'amnesty' to suspended Twitter accounts
content.jwplatform.com

Elon Musk officially welcomed Donald Trump back to Twitter following results from his poll.

Just six minutes after the poll closed, Musk tweeted the results and confirmed the return of Trump. Over 15 million Twitter users took part in the survey, with 51.8 per cent saying they would like to see his return vs 48.2 per cent who opposed it.

"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated," Musk wrote before adding: "Vox Populi, Vox De"."

Attention soon turned to Musk's Latin quote, leaving some users scratching their heads.

The quote itself translates to: "the voice of the people [is] the voice of God" and dates back to a letter penned by clergyman and poet Alcuin of York to Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, in 798.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter


However, many users were quick to highlight the full quote.

In a tweet that racked up over 40,000 retweets and many more responses, Twitter user Goldengateblond shared a screenshot of Musk's tweet and explained that the full quote was: "Nec audience qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima si"."

It actually translates to: "Do not listen to those who say the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the tumult of the crowd is always close to madness," according to the Twitter user.

One person said: "Bam. Knowledge dropped. She came. She quoted. She conquere."

Another joked they were "pretty sure the original translates to we held a Twitter poll, so".

Meanwhile, a third quipped: "Only Elon uses a quote to support his decision that is from a statement that says the opposite. Talk about self-own."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.





The Conversation (0)
x