tua culpa

English

Etymology

From the Latin phrase tuā culpā (“through your fault”), ablative case of tua culpa (“your fault, guilt”), used in English by analogy with mea culpa; also compare nostra culpa.

Phrase

tua culpa

1. (uncommon) Your fault, due to your error; you are to blame.
   • 1894 February 19, “Saturday’s Entertainments. Musical Matinee at the Manitoba [Hotel]—[Charles] Frohmann’s^[sic] Company at the Bijou.”, in Molyneux St. John, editor, Manitoba Morning Free Press, volume XX, number 190, Winnipeg, Man.: Manitoba Free Press Co., →OCLC, page 5, column 3:

     It seems a long time since Mr. [Paul] Henneberg has vouchsafed the public a flute solo: he was in rare form and it was a grand treat. The masterly manner in which the virtuoso deals with the most intricate execution and the expression that he develops is always a signal for an outburst of genuine applause. “I do not like the flute,” remarked a lady, “the physical effort is too palpable.” “Tua culpa, madam, don’t look at the performer.”

   • 1914 December 17, “To the Public”, in F[orester] D. Joslyn, editor, Logan County News, volume XI, number 8, Winona, Kan., →OCLC, page [3], column 4:

     We did not attend the Bazaar and Supper, Saturday, dared not. Understood we stood-in, not well, but for a thrashing. But still it was a success and netted a nice sum for the Aid.—Why? Well, we took the item via phone and got our wires crossed. Mea culpa, tua culpa, or what means the same.

   • 1927 November 3, Richard Dewey, “Letter to Dr. C[olonel] B[ell] Burr”, in Selected Papers, Chicago, Ill., published 1943, →OCLC, page 20:

     When we do not hear from you and Annette for a long period, we get uneasy and wonder what can the matter be? In our busy life, we do not stop to question is it mea culpa or tua culpa, but just start as I am doing now.

   • 1935 January 12, Robert Frost, “[To George F[risbie] Whicher. ALS. ACL.]”, in Mark Richardson, Donald Sheehy, Robert Bernard Hass, Henry Atmore, editors, The Letters of Robert Frost, volume 3 (1929–1936), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 2021, →ISBN, section 6 (FERA and Loathing in Key West: July 1934–March 1935), pages 481–482:

     In my desperation casting about, I caught at the last word of the last line to connect it with you trying to be even feebly departmental with English at our Amherst College. You barely succeed. You envy those in equivalent positions at Mount Holyoke and Harvard. But desist. By so much more than you do of them do they fall short of ants that it is as if you were in the same row boat with them trying to overtake a liner that got away from the wharf while, tua culpa, you were being given a farewell dinner party at the Commodore [Hotel] by your friends.

   • 1939 January 7, Ray Dieden, “Alas, Clay Feet!”, in Chicago Daily Tribune […], volume XCVIII, number 6, Chicago, Ill., →ISSN, page 8, column 3:

     Shattered another idol! / Busted another dream! / Culpa, tua culpa: / Such is my dismal theme. // Thou, C. C., ever unerring, / Keen as a radio beam— / Thou to let verses slip past thee, / With rhymes like “queen” [sic] with “dream!”

   • 1958 September 22, F. E. Winter, “[Letters From Readers] Scientists As ‘Public Advocates’”, in The Gazette, Montreal, Que., published 1958 September 26, column 6:

     The experience of many would indicate that the accountants, in general, are well ahead of technologists in their practical thinking, and the “tua culpa” attitude indicates more a juvenile than adult attitude in any areas of disagreement.

   • 1960 March 17, Clare Boothe Luce, “Who Is Responsible for TV’s ‘Ugly America’?”, in Congressional Record, Appendix, page A2376, column 2:

     We must remember that the present orgy of mea culpa breast beating and tua culpa finger pointing, which both the FCC and the industry are indulging in, to the accompaniment of loud and vague promises to try to do better programing in the future, are no guarantee to the millions of American TV family viewers that they will be any better even a year from now.

   • 1970 March 7, Fulton J[ohn] Sheen, “Protest Key to Freedom? Need Now for Responsibility, Character”, in Courier-Post, Home edition, volume 95, number 32, Camden, N.J., →OCLC, page 17, column 2:

     Protest is the way youth attempts to recover its freedom. It shows it is not determined, that things are not wrong by necessity, either from outside, as with [Karl] Marx, or from inside, with [Sigmund] Freud. Someone is to blame: guilt is on someone’s soul; blood is on his hands. Placards are lifted, marches organized, buildings occupied, police tantalized, and fingers pointed “Tua Culpa, Tua Culpa” (“Your fault, your fault”).

   • 1971, Bernard H. Shulman, “Confrontation Techniques in Adlerian Psychotherapy”, in Heinz L[udwig] Ansbacher, editor, Journal of Individual Psychology, volume 27, Burlington, Vt.: American Society of Adlerian Psychology, Inc., →ISSN, page 172:

     Tua culpa. “Why do people walk over me?” asked another patient. “I’m only trying to be a good guy.” The therapist’s answer was, “Because you let them. You look, act and talk like a doormat, and you invite people to walk on you. Don’t blame people, they’re only giving you what you asked for. Since you invite them, you have to suffer the consequences. Isn’t that right?”

   • 1989 May 14, John Hart, “Some will dance, and others will not, le quatorze juillet”, in Peregrine Worsthorne, editor, The Sunday Telegraph, number 1459, London, →ISSN, page 26, column 4:

     THE verb whose past tense is “slayed” is defined by Chambers as “to amuse very much; to impress very much”. Is that really what the French state did to its priests and nuns after 1789? (Mary Kenny, May 7). Or is it another example of tua culpa, Mr Worsthorne?

   • 1992 August 12, Walter Coyle, “[People’s forum] Notes ‘local boys’”, in John D. Gibson, editor, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Green Bay, Wis., →OCLC, page A-5, column 3:

     Now, regarding [Joe] Heller’s treatment of Toby Roth in the cartoon of Aug. 5—Tua culpa.

   • 2002 October 8, Graham Turner, “Where are the Tories?”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[1], number 45,822, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-07-11, page 19, column 1:

     “Mrs [Margaret] Thatcher, you know, never spoke a word of apology, despite the fact that the Heath government, of which she was part, made such a mess of the three-day week.” With her, remarked Lord Mayhew [i.e., Christopher Mayhew] drily, it had always been tua culpa.

   • 2008, Marlena de Blasi, “Part II: Tosca’s Story”, in That Summer in Sicily: A Love Story, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, chapter I, pages 65–66:

     Always having to worry if my father was angry or why, or if it was I who caused the anger. Worse was wondering if it was I who should be at work making his anger go away. Yet here among this vast polished cast, the game of mea culpa, tua culpa was played out with far more skulk.

   • 2014 September 8, Ron Padgett, “Survivor Guilt”, in Poets.org‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Academy of American Poets, archived from the original on 2021-10-20:

     It’s all your fault, anyway, and it always has been—the kind word you thought of saying but didn’t, the appalling decline of human decency, global warming, thermonuclear nightmares, your own small cowardice, your stupid idea that you would live forever—all tua culpa.

     Syndicated to newspapers (e.g., the Columbia Daily Tribune, page 2A) as part of “Poem-a-Day” by King Features Syndicate.

   • 2018 June 30, Steve Dworkin, “[Voice of the People] Mea culpa, tua culpa”, in Daily News, New York, N.Y., →ISSN, page 21, column 3:

     Mea culpa, tua culpa / Little Neck: I just saw Rep. Paul Ryan on TV, demanding that Rep. Maxine Waters apologize.

   • 2019, Avon Gale, Piper Vaughn, chapter 13, in Off the Ice (Hat Trick; 1), revised edition, Toronto, Ont.: Carina Press, Harlequin Enterprises Limited:

     “I didn’t mention that Tristan said I could have two for every home game?” Sebastian gave R.J. an innocent look. “Mea culpa.” / “No, you did not mention that, so yeah, tua culpa.” R.J. hit him lightly on the shoulder, and they watched as Tristan—after skating up and shooting pucks at the goalie—came over to the glass again.

Noun

tua culpa (plural tua culpas)

1. (uncommon) An instance of blaming someone (other than oneself).
   • 1952 September 19, Hugo Rahner, quotee, “‘Without God, Freedom Is Only A Word’”, in The Catholic Times, volume 1, number 51, Columbus, Oh.: The Catholic Times, Inc., →OCLC, page 2, column 6:

     Here, in the desperate plight of so many of our brethren, lies a heavy charge against us. Here there is more than enough reason for our humble ‘mea culpa’ but also for a ‘tua culpa’ addressed to those outside the Church who, as socialists, claim to have, or ought to have, a sense of social responsibility.

   • 1973 September 23, Josh Greenfeld, “Blacklisters, Blacklistees Down Memory Lane”, in Los Angeles Times (Book Review section), Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, columns 3–4:

     And what distinguishes [Stefan] Kanfer's recounting of the last blacklist is its note of intelligent compassion. Kanfer is more interested in the people than politics, in delineating human beings than in location party lines. And unlike so many accounts of the blacklist that I have read, his is not a quest for self-justification, a tua culpa or a J'Accuse.

   • 1974, Richard M. Laska, “‘The Preceeding^[sic] Crisis was Brought to You By…’”, in Anton B. Schmalz, editor, Energy: Today’s Choices, Tomorrow’s Opportunities: Essential Dimensions in Thinking for Energy Policy, Washington, D.C.: World Future Society, →OCLC, page 216:

     It is, perhaps, the nature of the great American beast that in the midst of the recent “energy crisis” at least two-thirds of all the media time and space devoted to the “crisis” dealt with flinging “tua culpa’s”—trying to pass the blame.

   • 1975 June 8, Heywood Hale Broun, “Leo [Durocher]’s impassioned account of Leo”, in Chicago Tribune (Book World section), Chicago, Ill., →ISSN, page 3, column 2:

     There is, of course, a conspiracy to deny his rightness, and Nice Guys Finish Last is a tua culpa as full of lofty complaints as Henry Kissinger before a Congressional committee. Both Henry and Leo are always aghast at the inability of the opposition to see the truth, which is so patiently being told them.

   • 1998 August 26, David Hall, “Forgiving [Bill] Clinton doesn’t mean we have to forget”, in The Sentinel, volume 117, number 255, Carlisle, Pa., →OCLC, page B4, column 3:

     The president’s “tua culpa” (you’re at fault) only admitted to being caught, and begrudgingly at that.

   • 2001, Dan Subotnik, “The Cult of Hostile Gender Climate: A Male Voice Preaches Diversity to the Choir”, in The University of Chicago Law School Roundtable: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, volume 8, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Law School, →ISSN, page 40:

     I conclude that the evidence fails to support the general charge of a hostile learning environment in American law schools and the call for a new regime in legal education. If I am right, perhaps the smugness, tua culpas, breast beating, and self-abasement can stop.

   • 2013, Alice von Hildebrand, “[The Nature of the Intimate Sphere] Tua Culpa or Mea Culpa?”, in The Dark Night of the Body: Why Reverence Comes First in Intimate Relations, Fort Collins, Colo.: Roman Catholic Books, →ISBN, pages 13–14:

     One of the many dangers threatening us today is the widespread tendency to put the blame on others. Christopher West resorts to this strategy in his book, Good News About Sex and Marriage, […] Here, West falls into a contemporary trap. The tua culpa [you are at fault] has replaced the mea culpa [I am at fault]. To assume that those who fall into sexual sin necessarily would have led a pure life had one’s parents or teachers been more “open” in their approach to the intimate sphere, is pure illusion.