Mumsnet Little Italy 3

[francagoestohollywood]

Welcome everyone

hello scrummy!
at your granma words!!!

did your mum try to speak to you in italian and then gave up or just defaulted to english? sometimes I find it'd be so easy to do that too, especially when in the presenc of other non-italian mums.

'mimi mimi mimi con la mani tiri come uragani' si quella. jenny e madama butterfly... ah i bei tempi...

Well when my Mum and Grandma came over - Mum was 6 years old and had to learn the english for my Grandma. Mum can speak and translate very well but gets a bit shy about it. She never tried to speak to us in italian. The impression I got from my Mum about the words that it was not like saying to someone in english you tart or cow it was more like a term of endearment?

Definetely not a term of my endearment, not round my parts.

Ciao tutti !!
puttana and vacca not nice words here too, although i do find italians use a lot more freely swear words. My dh constantly uses minchia !! half the time he doesn't realise he's saying it !

Erm no, not where I live either. Whereabouts was your grandmother from Scrummy?

agree with michimama. in the north 'cazzo' is used a lot instead of an esclamation mark, it seems to me.

please translate for me 'term of my endearment' as I cannot quite get it.

Well you are in Sicily Michy. I now say it a lot too, caught it off Montalbano and my Sicilian ex neighbour!

Puttana and vacca are not really "just" swear words though, are they? They're more simply derogoratory terms for women, a bit like using the c word in English is never meant to be nice.

termine di affetto.

swear words are always the first words my students wan to know too. I don't tell them though, and try to explain that in the uk we don't swear

But cazzo is used i the same way as the English use Shit! Like when you drop something on your foot. So not really strong IYSWIM. Like in English "wanker" is used a lot, often in a jokey way, but you'd never say segaiolo in Italian.

My Grandma was from the Veneto region. Pippi - term of endearment is like calling someone darling or sweetheart or love.

thanks for translation bran. no then def not used like this in pg either. it might have been different times though. scrummy where about was your grandma from?

Brangelina - your name is soooooo like my real name!

Brangelina - your name is soooooo like my real name!

in udine, when I hear people talking on the street they go like this 'hai visto che macchina, cazzo! magari l'avessi io, cazzo! etc. Or a lot of bestemmie, which really is\not nice but like you say brangelina most of it just blend in with the sentence. stronzo is used in the same way as wanker in my parts.

wow, what a lovely cultural converstaion.

the bidello at my kids nursery says minchia all the time !! Whilst I agree with you brangelina in that its not a heavy duty swear word its not the ideal word for him to be using around 3 and 4 year olds !!! Mind you, he doesn't speak Italian.

My Grandma used stronzo a lot.

I've eaten too much. I can't move from the chair.

what u eaten pipp ?? we had sandwiches, got a bday party this afternoon so will stuff face with pizza, arancine and bday cake !!! I LOVE italian cakes !!! Especially with ricotta and choc bits !!

Tomatoes,avocado and mozzarella salad! 'ohh' you'll be thinking 'that is sooo healthy!'
well it would have been if I didn't scoff (sp?) an entire garlic bread with it! [fat emoticon]

sounds lovely ! I like avocados but they are so expensive here !!
Right off to get the horrors from nuresry and then to party !!!
A domani xxx

ciao a tutte! People from veneto do swear a lot, and have the most elaborate bestemmie (which is weird given that they are fervent catholics). Anyway, it might make sense that scrummy's grandma used those words in an affectionate way, maybe (ciap scrummy)
arancini!!! I'd love one right now!!!
Pippi, whre did you get the candy candy dvds from? I'd love to get those for dd.
(I was thinking of the episode when the delfino di francia dies and lady oscar takes him for his last horseride.... sigh sigh sigh. Yes, I had a crash on Anthony as well, esp after he loses one eye. Other crashes on cartoni animati were Terence from Candy Candu and the bad generale, quello cattivo, ma biondo in Gundam. And Tommy Bredford from la famiglia bredford)

not ciap but ciao scrummy

franca from this girl who has got all the cartoons you can possibly imagine. I've just checked the list and she's got Gundam as well. want me to forwward you the email and the list?