“Drunk, moving, no longer entirely there.” – ChatGtp on 2026.05.21
Emperor Augustus dressed as pontifex maximus, the highest religious office in the Roman empire
Source image: wikipedia (Museo Nazionale Romano Palazzo Massino alle Therme, Rome)
POTUS, PONTIFEX: A POETOLOGY
May 21, 2026
In the United States ‘POTUS’ is often used as an acronym for ‘President Of The United States’.
Donald Trump, the 45th and 47the president of the US, often uses the acronym in his posts on ‘social media’.
According to William Safire (2008), a former speechwriter for Richard Nixon, the informal term POTUS originated in the Phillips Code, a shorthand method created in 1879 by Walter P. Phillips for the rapid transmission of press reports by telegraph.
According to an investigation of slang by the editor of the Random House Dictionary of American Slang (in The Atlantic, oct 1997) Franklin D. Roosevelt (who began signing himself “FDR” at the age of nine) is said to have assumed the designation POTUS in his wartime correspondence with the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. (who, for his part, used the code name “Former Naval Person.” Roosevelt and Churchill both jokingly referred to Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator, as “UJ,” for “Uncle Joe.”). POTUS was adopted by the White House staff and the Secret Service.
In Europe and elsewhere, the informal acronym was long time not recognised as such by the broader public/audience. For catholics it echoos the ceremonial title of the pope, Pontifex Maximus, a title that echoos (POnTifex maximUS) the ceremomial, religious title of the Roman emperors; ‘Supreme Bridgebuilder’. And ofcourse, few people are aware of this linguistic link.
Mr. Trump, by the way, doesn’t drink alcoholic beverages, so if he’s ‘drunk’, it’s in a figurative sense, as in one of the greatest poems of all time, by Charles Beaudelaire: (translation by Louis Simpson, 1997)
You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it—it’s the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.
But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.
And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking . . . ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.”
So, on 25 May, 2026, I asked ChatGtp to rhyme on Potus.
The results can be read below the line.
My favorite is the shortest version: Potus, motus, nihil totus
“Drunk, moving, no longer entirely there.”
ChatGtp, asked about the source:
‘There is no historical source for “Potus, motus, nihil totus.” I coined it ad hoc as playful pseudo-Latin in the style of medieval student or tavern doggerel.’
So the slogan has been noticed as coined by ‘ChatGtp ‘artificial intelligence’ on 2026, May 21
And, ofcourse, this is an example of how human understanding can ‘work with’ AI
Leon Dessau, May 21, 2026
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A few variants, ranging from classical to mock tavern Latin:
More classical Latin
Post multum potum, incertus motus.
“After much drink: unsteady movement.”
Medieval / student-style Latin
Ubi magnus potus, ibi varius motus.
“Where there is much drink, there are strange movements.”
Monk-tavern Latin
Potus bonus, motus malus.
“Good drink, bad coordination.”
Rhyming proverb style
Qui nimis potat, vix recte motat.
“Who drinks too much can hardly move straight.”
As if written on a tavern sign
In vino potus, in via tortus.
“Drunk on wine, weaving along the road.”
And the version that most sounds like something people would assume is “real Latin”:
Magnus potus, magnus motus.
(“Much drink, much commotion/movement.”)
It has the same compact, rhythmic feel as famous student drinking mottos.
ook het begin
A few words in Latin that (roughly) rhyme with potus:
- motus — movement
- votus / more commonly votum — vow, wish
- totus — whole, entire
- notus — known
- rotus — (rare/late Latin, “broken”)
- devotus — devoted
- indotus — unlearned
If you want a classical-sounding rhyme, motus and totus usually work best with potus.
For example:
Post multum potus venit lentus motus.
(“After much drink came slow movement.”)
Or more playfully:
Totus est potus.
(“He is completely drunk / soaked in drink.”)
If you want, I can also make:
- strict classical metrical rhymes,
- pseudo-Latin for a motto or inscription,
- or vulgar/comic “monk Latin.”
For comic “monk Latin” with potus, you could do something like:
In vino potus, homo fit quasi totus.
(“Through wine and drink, a man suddenly feels complete.”)
Or shorter and more absurd:
Potus, motus, nihil totus.
(“Drunk, moving, no longer entirely there.”)
Another pseudo-classical one:
Qui nimis potus est, raro bene motus est.
(“Who is too drunk rarely moves well.”)
That phrase probably does not exist as a genuine historical Latin quotation — I improvised it myself as playful pseudo-Latin in the style of rhyming student or tavern Latin. So you will not find a classical source for it in places like Perseus Digital Library or The Latin Library.
Grammatically it is intentionally a bit loose:
- potus = drunk / drunk from drinking
- motus = moved / movement
- nihil totus = literally something like “entirely nothing,” which is not elegant classical Latin, but it rhymes.
If you want, I can also make:
- a genuinely classical and grammatically correct version,
- a medieval-sounding version,
- or something that sounds like it came from a monastery tavern in 1450.
what was the source of ‘Potus, motus, nihil totus’?
There is no historical source for “Potus, motus, nihil totus.” I coined it ad hoc as playful pseudo-Latin in the style of medieval student or tavern doggerel.
So you will not find it in classical corpora such as:
It was intentionally made to sound proverb-like rather than to be correct classical Latin. The humor comes mainly from the rhyme and rhythm:
- potus — drunk / having drunk
- motus — movement / moved
- nihil totus — roughly “not entirely there anymore,” though grammatically loose.
A more genuinely Latin version with a similar feel would be something like:
Magnus potus, magnus motus.
(“Much drink, much commotion.”)
or
Post multum potum, incertus motus.
(“After much drinking, unsteady movement.”)
Leon Dessau 