How to say "Stay Rad" in Latin

Question

Stay Rad, as in, Stay Radical.

As would be said to a skateboarder and/or a member of the action sports community.

Answer 1

I absolutely dig this question. Here's my shot at it:

1. Singular (speaking to one person): morare superessentialis or maybe morare superesse for short (like "rad" is short for radical), literally meaning "remain beyond being" or "stay out of this world" (more informally).
2. Plural (speaking to many people): moramini superessentiales or again moramini superesse for short, same translation.

A couple notes: I chose superessentialis for "radical," because the word literally refers to something that exists beyond the intelligible order of things in this world, and what's more radical than something that actually transcends the entire universe? Going with moror for "stay" (instead of the closer-to-English sta/state) is extra fun too, because it could also be read as a totally different verb which means "to be foolish," so we could also translate our motto here as something like "be a fool out of this world." Perfect for a skateboarding/sports community!

Just for fun, here's also the ancient Greek equivalent of our Latin motto above:

1. Singular: mene huperousios (μένε ὑπερούσιος)
2. Plural: menete huperousioi (μένετε ὑπερουσίοι)

Answer 2

Another tutor (@Alexander) already gave a great answer to this question, but I'd like to offer another suggestion, which will be a good opportunity to discuss different translation choices we, as Latin translators, get to make, day in and day out.

When translating any language, you often come across phrases that don't make much sense when translated literally or that just sound awkward in the target language. Take an example from the first book of the Aeneid, where Virgil uses the phrase "altae moenia Romae." You could translate the phrase literally as "the walls of high Rome," and that translation would be a fine one. You could also pause and say, "Wait a minute... We don't often describe cities as being high. What's Virgil getting at here?" After some thought, you might notice that while cities aren't typically described as high, city walls in fact are described as high. (In the ancient world, having high walls around your city is a distinct source of pride and security.) So, you might decide that while altae grammatically agrees with Romae, the phrase is actually using altae to describe moenia. (In fact, using an adjective like this is a well-known literary device called a transferred epithet.) You could then reasonably change your translation to "the high walls of Rome." Of course, be sure to weigh all your translation options, since you could also argue that the adjective altae is figurative for the grand status of Rome, or that the city of Rome is literally high since it's built upon seven hills. If either of these options seem better, you could then stick with "the walls of high Rome."

In any case, if you're interested in a more dynamic approach to translating the original phase ("stay rad!") you might take the phrase from Horace, "Carpe diem!" ("Seize the day!"), or the command attributed to Caesar, "Perge audacter!" ("Carry on boldly!"). Of course, neither of these is a literal translation of "stay rad!" but they do a good job of getting at similar sentiments.

I'm excited to see what phrases you and your friends come up with! Be sure to keep us posted!