Meaning
Advice to follow the customs, habits or rules of the place you are visiting or the group you are mixing with, rather than insisting on your own ways. Usually light-hearted or practical, and often shortened to just 'when in Rome' as a jocular excuse for joining in whatever the locals do. Informal and usually jocular, often shrunk to 'when in Rome' when joining in local habits. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The earliest trace is late fourth-century Christian correspondence about differing local customs: Augustine's Letter 54 (c. 390) sets out the principle that when he is in Rome he fasts on Saturday but not where he lives, and later tradition credits Ambrose with giving similar advice to Augustine's mother Monica about following local church practice. The idea circulated widely as a medieval Latin verse, 'Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more' (if you are in Rome, live in the Roman manner). For English, The Phrase Finder cites Henry Porter's 1599 play 'The Two Angry Women of Abington' ('when a man doth to Rome come, he must do as there is done'), while Titelman's Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings reports a form in a 1530 commonplace book. The modern wording is recorded by 1777 in the published letters of Pope Clement XIV, and the clipped form 'when in Rome' since at least the 1930s.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Do as the Romans do
- When at Rome, do as the Romans do
- When in Rome, do as the locals do
Usage Examples
- I never order dessert at home, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do - the pastry here is famous.
- You do not have to stay up until midnight just because everyone else does; when in Rome, do as the Romans do only up to a point.
- When in Rome, the new interns quickly adopted the studio's habit of sharing lunch at the long table.