#What does con calma mean how to#
Itch is delighted to feature more from our Italian abroad, Gianna della Valle, with ideas about how to live more like an Italian no matter where you are. She has made a study of how to bring elements of the Italian way of life into her adopted, more frenetic homeland. OctoIn Live By Gianna Delle Valle La Bella Figura
People have fun with it, and many people adopt it into almost every sentence, for emphasis, my driving teacher being one of them. It’s a sign of how deeply I’ve internalized Italian culture that, even though I am not religious, whenever I hear a bestemmia uttered in anger, my breath catches in my throat. However, I have heard many variations, one of my favorites being “diociclope”, or “cyclopsgod”. The most common nouns used are “cane” (dog), “porco” (pig), and “puttana” (slut, referring to the Madonna). You can put your chosen noun before or after the name, and you can be as creative as you want, the essence will always still be there. You can take anything, literally anything, not considered to be “nice” and pair it with Dio, Madonna, or Gesu’, and ta-da! you have a bestemmia. I remember that one of the most amusing headlines in several national papers a few years ago was when a priest tripped in a procession, and said “Diocane!” Bestemmie are used by all members of society, old and young (my brother described it as “cool” when he was 12), farmer to president. When said in anger it is perceived as much more offensive to God than if it is said in a playful manner, or even to accentuate a sentence. This type of swearing is called “bestemmiare,” and essentially means any insult to god. “Diocane” (“god-dog”) is a classic, and is strictly forbidden to use in a classroom, and even more so at home. “Dog,” “pig,” and “cow,” for instance, are tame words, until you pair any one of them with any religious figure. Some of the most colorful taboo words seem innocuous at first. Upon reflection, that is the very best thing that happened to me in Italian school: I learned to stand up and defend myself and what I believe in.Īlmost no words are off limits. This particular freedom of speech lends itself to the very Tuscan mentality of confrontation. From middle school on, students can happily swear in class and the teacher will, at most, give the child a scolding look, but more likely will swear right back. That is one of the perks of being a child in Italy almost no words are off-limits. He grew impatient with his mother’s fretting and started saying “Ma cazzo mamma eh!”, which translates to “But fuck mom, eh!” At first, I was shocked, but she just laughed, and soon I joined in. The son, however, also wanted the phone-to play. She wanted to use her phone to check in on the nonna. They had just left their nonna in Florence, and were already very worried about her whereabouts. On a recent train ride from Florence, I sat near a very sweet Italian boy, who was four, and his mother. I’m delighted to include an article by our daughter, Donella, who will occasionally chime in with a teenager’s perspective. NovemIn Lingua, Live By Donella What’s the f***ing big deal? For starter usage, though, you can’t beat the wistful look into the distance and slight shrug of its “what if” meaning. The last set of meanings are “maybe, and what if” “Magari we should open a bottle of wine,” “What if magari we get to the restaurant and they don’t have room?,” or “ Magari he would notice she dyed her hair red” are all situations in which magari would be perfectly at home. This meaning can be accompanied by a bit of a shrug and wave of both hands. “How I wish it was true.” The kind of word you’d pull out to express the regret of a relationship that should have ended differently: “ Magari it could have gone differently.” It can also has a meaning of “God willing,” as in things like passing one’s exams, or finding great fortune. It often has a strong wistful sense, a kind of “if only” from deep in the soul. You can use it to express “Of course! I’d love to!” as in an ironic a response to whether you’d like to go to Paris for the weekend (implying “Of course! If only”). The dictionary translates it simply as “maybe” or “if only” but that just scratches the surface of how useful this word is. This a word that I hear all the time and that can be used to mean a lot of different things. FebruIn Lingua By Nancy Word of the week: magari
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