You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Translating the faux-Latin tattoo on Elliot Spitzer's favorite callgirl
2008-06-10
Prof. Ann Althouse

Everyone's talking about Ashley Dupre's tattoo that reads, in faux Latin: "tutela valui." Dupre was Eliot Spitzer's favorite prostitute, so people want to understand the words. But like those ridiculous Chinese characters fools have permanently inked on their carcasses, Dupre's tattoo botches the language. The Daily News delves into scholarly interpretation of the whore's bikini line:

Tutela, which is related to tutor, has to do with a protector or guardian. Valui appears to be a past form of the word strong.

"So I guess you would say it means, 'I have a strong patron' or 'I have a strong keeper,'" said Doug Machle, assistant to the chairman in the classics department at the University of Washington.

"Or, actually, it's more like, 'My guardian was strong.'"...

Mark Buchan, a classics professor at Columbia, took a different tack, musing that it could mean "safe haven."

The Columbia professor gives Ashley credit — even as she tattoos herself with bad Latin — for seeing herself (or her body part) as the strong one and having a sense of humor about sex.

Prof. Althouse's commenters propose some alternate interpretations:

'My guardian was strong.'"... OR
My pimp is tough.

"Medical professors disagreed with their colleagues in the classics department, explaining the it wasn't faux Latin, but faux Roman numerals. "It's an ICD-9 code" said one professor. He declined to specify which one, but stated, "Basically, it's an STD warning label".

My Latin is fuzzy so I had to venture a guess. "Tutela" perhaps derived from tukus or dupa referring to her ass aka moneymaker. And "Valui" refering to money or value. So "Tutela Valui" could mean "Ass For Sale".

It's the Latin phrase for laser surgery at mid-life.
Posted by:Mike

#4  I'm beginning to see physical features of Paris Hilton in Ashley Dupree - may be Ashley is really the brunete "bad" Paris Hilton or "anti-Paris".

Barack Obama is distantly related to Dick Cheney, so why not Paris with Ashley.

My cents only.
Posted by: Slineng Fillmore8499   2008-06-10 20:54  

#3  Roman for pricey a$$? Spitzer had a favorite prostitute. Then he had more than one?
Posted by: JohnQC   2008-06-10 17:16  

#2  "Shake Your Moneymaker"
Posted by: mojo   2008-06-10 16:44  

#1  Everyone's talking about Ashley Dupre's tattoo that reads, in faux Latin: "tutela valui."

They are?
Sorry. Must've missed the nationwide alert.
Posted by: tu3031   2008-06-10 14:23  

00:00