My husband prefers the word "disonesti". It's not quite as strong as "cretini" - sort of means "troublemakers". He generally directs it at our own kids in a semi-serious way when they're being pains - "disonesto" for our son, "disonorata" for our daughter. Literally, "dishonest" and "dishonored". I don't know if his usage of the words is dialectic or not.
My favorite restaurant in Florence is actually across the river (Altrarno). It's called Alla Vecchia Bettola. Check it out if you get a chance. It's got a real homey feel to it.
I;ve eaten there. good place...there's also a few good places in P.zza S. Spirito. not to split hair Mike...but it's Oltrarno
"Disonesti" is an adjective, and here in Italy it's hardly an insult, not even a "soft" one. Many politicians in Italy (as in the rest of the world) are disonesti. "Disonorata" is used in southern Italy for daughters (girls) that have sexual intercourse before marriage. Here in Milano nobody uses it (a modern Milan teenager being called "disonorata" could very well slap his parent on the face and then go to the disco wearing a tie as a skirt..), but I bet in little villages in Sicily this word still retains its original strenght.
Re: Parola del giorno If someone whips in front of me in a vespa (an increasingly rare sighting in Italy - now it's all "big scooters" like Honda Foresight) while I'm crossing the road I'd yell him a far more offensive insult... "Cretino" is used when you're relaxed and -for example- are talking with someone about someone else ("Francesco è davvero un cretino, ieri si è scordato le chiavi di casa in ufficio" - "Frank is really an idiot, yesterday he forgot the keys of his house in the office"). When an italian is angry with someone will use far more aggressive words than cretino. And of course italian language has a zillion words meant to insult...
Bel thread. Buongiorno a tutti. Buon compleanno a chi ha compiuto gli anni in questi giorni, "a cent'annus" (may you live to be 100 yrs old) as we sardinians say.
Now some italian news. L'Ascoli ha scelto Ammazzalorso (what a surname!! - killthebear -) L'Ascoli calcio ha comunicato oggi di aver nominato Aldo Ammazzalorso come nuovo tecnico del club bianconero. Proveniente dalla serie C, dove ha guidato il Treviso alla promozione in serie B lo scorso anno, Ammazalorso prendera' il posto dell'esonerato Loris Dominissini. L'allenatore in seconda sara' Giovanni Bucaro. Translate.
Io sono un quarto sardo (nonna materna), quanto mi manca la terra più bella del mondo... I'm for a quarter sardinian, and I miss a lot the most beautiful island on earth..
Well, I don't think my husband is using it to mean this exact thing when he's talking to our 4-year-old daughter!!!
Ascoli Calcio announced today the selection of Aldo Ammazzalorso as the new head coach of the "bianconeri". Having come from Serie C, where he led Treviso to promotion to Serie B last year, Ammazzalorso will take over the postion from the fired Loris Dominissini. The assistant coach will be Giovanni Bucaro. ================== quanti punti guadagno?
You shouldn't participate... btw you won the pleasure to repeat endlessly the phrase "una coca cola con la cannuccia" (with florentine pronounce obviously) till tomorrow morning. Note for everyone, sardinians tend to pronounce most of the consonants as if they were double (ie. Hard). Tuscanians exactly the contrary and the "c" sounds as the "h" in the german "heil". p.s. i hope noone feel intimidated to try his/her italian, it can't be worst than my english (but even if it was worst). Learning is always a work in progress. "Nessuno nasce imparato" (incorrect italian but gives the idea.
actually it's funnier like this: "una coca cola calda con la cannuccia corta corta" and yes...I, as an American, have this Tuscan accent
My problem is that I studied it in school, while my parents and other family members speak the old Neopolitan dialect. So they understand what I say (though they think I pronounce everything funny). I HAVE NO CLUE when they are talking to me. Half of Neopolitan is Greek, French, Spanish or Arabic anyway, and they never pronounce the endings. And then there is the problem that I never actually USE my Italian, so it disappears until I get embarassed when someone wants me to translate something, and I run back to school again.
pls pls make a little .wav or .mp3 and post it. Dai che son sicuro che mi "garba di molto". it reminds of when I was a little boy and I couldn't pronounce the "r" correctly (it sounded like a french "r")... friends and relatives tortured me by asking me to say "quel rissoso irascibile braccio di ferro". Maybe that's why I finally learned to pronounce it. rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. How's your "r"?
Does Sardinian have a lot in common with the Corsican dialect of French? I'm not surprised you have a Tuscan accent, Tree. When I lived in Germany, I had a Mosel accent when I spoke German. I could speak "Hochdeutsch" as well, but when I spoke with German friends I spoke the way they did.
Jamme Napule, usalo allora. Senza fare traduzioni se ti creano problemi. Look what I found... a Cagliari-Napoli comment in neapolitan. http://www.clubnapoli.it/sito/napoli.htm I understand neapolitan (not all but most) as most of non neapolitan italians, neapolitan culture is very rich and powerful. Songs, Eduardo De Filippo, Massimo Troisi etc etc.
hmm...and then I would never hear the end of it... Like an American...I can't do it...and I've given up trying...other than that, my accent and pronunciation is really good...or so I'm told.
The italophone dialects (gallurese, sassarese) spoken in the northern edge of Sardinia are very similar to southern corsican. btw corsican is an italian dialect, not french. Example. http://www.corsica-nazione.com/accoltacorsacad.htm Sardinian is a distinct language. http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=403076 http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Sardinian-language Actually nowadays italian is the main language spoken. Anyway something is finally done to keep safe sardinian. lots of study, lots of efforts. sardinian is still widely known and used especially in the villages but never officially. There are 2 main sardinian "versions" but any village has its own subdialect and it is difficult to have a standard used and recognized by everyone. The fight is among the 2 main versions, the logudorese being someway known to be the "nobler" one (more used in literature and so on), the other spoken by a majority of people. A spanish describing sardinians in late middle age (before spanish invasion) said we were "pocos, locos y mal unidos". Anyway the differences are not so strong, I know and understand logudorese easily though I am a campidanese speaker (when i speak it). This is the most famous traditional religious song, if some of you had the misfortune to study latin could recognize the similarities. And also you will be able to see how sardinian differs from italian and others romance languanges. notes - ex. of conservation Deus = God but also tempus = time (and many others). The definite articles are not taken from lat. ille, illa, illud (italian = il, lo, la - french = le etc. Spanish = el etc.) but from lat. ipse, ipsa, ipsud (sardinian = su, sa). Deus ti salvet, Maria (sardinian, logudorese version) Deus ti salvet, Maria, chi ses de gratia plena. De gratias ses sa vena ei sa currente. De gratias ses sa vena ei sa currente. Su Deus onnipotente cun tegus est istadu. Pro chi t'hat preservadu Immaculada. Pro chi t'hat preservadu Immaculada. Beneitta e laudada, subra a tottu gloriosa. Mama, fiza e isposa de su Segnore. Mama, fiza e isposa de su Segnore. Beneittu su fiore e fruttu de su sinu. Gesus, fiore divinu, Segnore nostru. Gesus, fiore divinu, Segnore nostru. Pregade a Fizu ostru pro nois peccadores, chi tottu sos errores nos perdonet. Chi tottu sos errores nos perdonet. Ei sa gratia nos donet in vida e in sa morte. Ei sa diciosa sorte in Paradisu. Ei sa diciosa sorte in Paradisu
yeah and i guess almost none under 40 (maybe even 50) like it its really unstandable, in particular songs and movies (especially Nino D'angelo's) no offence
So, I get to learn Italian at work now, with two Italians interacting around me, I understand just about everything they say and now get to practice a little too. Now, the qu words are easy to figure out for the most part based on my Portuguese. But, wtf is quindi???
I should be offended if you don't like Nino D'Angelo? Or the crappy Mario Merola's movies ('a sceneggiata)? When i said music I surely meant traditional and good music. Pino Daniele is a good musician for example. Do you like 99 posse? Eduardo is one of the best italian play writer ever. Massimo Troisi was one of the best humorists ever. btw i'm sardinian not neapolitan. But still i can judge between art and crap, being it neapolitan, sardinian, sicilian or else. it's hard to deny that naples gave a lot to italian top culture, as sicily for example. And I'm still in the 30's.