A surprisingly thorough account of Latin in the longest-running scripted television show in America: The Simpsons.
Over the past quarter-century, almost everything has been referenced on “The Simpsons,” and Latin is no exception. However, no one has ever compiled a list of Latin references on the series, so here’s my catalog with commentary.
Probably the most famous Latin phrase in “The Simpsons” is the motto on Mayor Quimby’s seal, “Corruptus in extremis,” which appears in multiple episodes. Quimby is infamously corrupt—selling the school’s milk contract to the Mafia, using taxpayer dollars to have his enemies killed—so the intended meaning is obvious, “Corrupt in the extreme.” The Latin phrase “in extremis” usually means “at the farthest reaches” or “as a last resort,” so this could arguably have the opposite meaning, that Quimby is corrupt only as a last resort—though no one other than Quimby’s press secretary is likely to spin it that way.