Vandal scratches Poe phrase into car at dealership

Language nerds will appreciate this news story about a Latin vandal.

The scratching on one of the cars spelled out “Nemo me inpune lacessit.” The phrase means “No one attacks me with impunity.”

The quotation, in fact, comes from Edgar Allan Poes classic horror story “The Cask of Amontillado.” It is the family crest of Fortunato, the unfortunate victim of revenge by his neighbor, Montressor. The narrator lures the drunken Fortunato to the basement of his Italian villa during carnival where he chains him to a wall that he then bricks shut, leaving the man to die in the darkness.

“Oh, that’s interesting. Wow,” said Roxanne Conchilla, manager of the dealership. She said that a total of 13 autos were vandalized, but only the 2006 Ford Focus received the grim inscription.

“You want it cheap?” she asked. “It falls under the needs body work category, I guess.”

via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.