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I'm looking for more things to read in order to improve my Latin, and I came across a little book: Rufus Lutulentus. I found it a bit too easy, but amusing, and I only discovered later, on Reddit, that it was criticised for being written in bad Latin. Here's an extract:

Rūfus est lutulentus cotīdiē, sed lutulentus est domī. Rūfō placet esse lutulentum domī. est diēs Lūnae. Rūfus est lutulentus domī omnibus diēbus Lūnae. iam, Rūfus est domī. Rūfus vult lutulārī domī.

ecce, Līvia!

Līvia est māter Rōmāna. Līvia est māter, sed nōn est māter Rūfī. Līvia est māter Sextī et Drūsillae. māter Rūfī et Pīsōnis est Agrippīna. Sextus et Drūsilla sunt Rōmānī, sed nōn sunt lutulentī. Sextus nōn vult lutulārī. Drūsilla et Pīsō nōn volunt lutulārī. Līvia et Agrippīna nōn volunt lutulārī...

...sed Rūfus vult lutulārī. Rūfus vult esse Rōmānus lutulentus.

Of course, it's very repetitive and heavy-handed, but that's undoubtedly a choice made by the author for educational purposes. I wonder if there are any grammatical errors or strange constructions that I wouldn't have noticed. Personally, it's only the fact that the sentences aren't linked together (nam, autem, etc.) that seems out to me.

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    I don't feel confident enough for an answer, but I'll point out a few things that seem strange. "est dies lunae" seems like it's missing something. "Hodie est..."? Also, "omnibus diebus" seems less likely than "quoque die" for referring to each and every Tuesday. Commented Aug 23, 2024 at 11:55
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    Could you perhaps elaborate a little on the specifics of the criticism you read? (I don't feel like searching on Reddit myself.) Obviously this monotonous drone is not "good Latin." But Mr. Piantaggini clearly specializes in creating texts (presumably for teaching purposes) with extreme limitations; case in point, this one is based on only 40 vocables (of which 2 are apparently the enormously important lutulentus and the hapax legomenon lutulare). It is not clear by what standard one should measure such a text. Commented Aug 24, 2024 at 21:26

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