"No shit" in latin. This term fulfills the extreme need in academic discourse for a less noxious alternative to No shit No shit Sherlock Captain Obvious Thank you Captain Obvious. Since academic discourse often favors stilted, unclear, and symbolically embellished phrasing, latinates -- correct or incorrect -- really do the trick. So stercus nullum fulfills both roles -- viz., provides appropriately pompous and stilted way to say no shit on occasions where the precise meaning and impact of no shit Sherlock is called for.
It is impolite and too informal to say "no shit Sherlock," or "thank you Captain Obvious," in formal academic writing, and thus, one should opt for the appropriately stilted-but-false latinate "stercus nullum" instead.
by Tuco Bepajumaramirez February 20, 2016
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