{"id":17304,"date":"2024-09-22T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/?p=17304"},"modified":"2024-09-24T10:44:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T14:44:44","slug":"italian-word-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/italian-word-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Word Fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tItalian Translation<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Margo Sorenson<\/span><\/p>

\u201cDon\u2019t be a salame!\u201d Words are fun to play with, (you don\u2019t have to be a writer to know that!) and Italian expressions can often be much more entertaining to explore and to use than English expressions. Of course, having spent my childhood in Napoli and Bari, I\u2019m very objective and impartial about that. <\/span>\ud83d\ude09 <\/span>It\u2019s enjoyable to examine the many nuances of Italian idioms; they add depth and shades of meaning to what could otherwise be boring, ho-hum statements.<\/span><\/p>

Avere le mani in pasta: <\/span><\/i>“<\/span>To have your hands in the pasta dough”\u2014to be in charge\u2014and we know who often makes the pasta in la famiglia\u2014the <\/span>nonna<\/span><\/i>. Kneading, rolling, digging in, slapping around\u2014she\u2019s the boss of the dough, for sure. If you\u2019ve made pasta yourself or seen pasta made by hand, you know this for a fact.<\/span><\/p>

Non tutte le ciambelle escono col buco<\/span><\/i>: \u201cNot every doughnut has a hole in it.\u201d This meaning often depends on the context in which it\u2019s used, but, simply, not everything turns out the way you think or hope it will, but, it <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> be good,\"\" regardless. The doughnut could be cream-filled or jam-filled, despite its lack of a hole. We can make do with what we have\u2014at least it\u2019s a doughnut\u2014let\u2019s look on the bright side. <\/span>\ud83d\ude0a<\/span><\/p>

Avere le fette di prosciutto sugli occhi<\/span><\/i>: To have prosciutto covering your eyes\u2014meaning you are careless or absent-minded\u2014or maybe so in love that you don\u2019t see the truth! It\u2019s a little difficult to see through prosciutto, no matter how thinly it\u2019s sliced.<\/span><\/p>

Non fare il salame:<\/span><\/i> \u201cDon\u2019t make\/be a salame\u201d\u2014we know salame isn\u2019t articulate or communicative or able to do anything by itself in the slightest. In other words, don\u2019t be stupid!<\/span><\/p>

Campa cavallo che l\u2019erbe cresce:<\/span><\/i> \u201cLive, horse; the grass will grow\u201d\u2014means you\u2019ll have to wait a long time before the thing you\u2019re waiting for actually happens. This is often shortened to \u201ccampa cavallo\u201d and is a very common expression\u2014another way of saying \u201cfat chance.\u201d Imagine the poor, hungry, woebegone horse, waiting and waiting for the grass to grow so he can eat.<\/span><\/p>

Metti l\u2019asino dove vuole il padrone:<\/span><\/i> \u201cPut the donkey where the owner wants it.\u201d Do what your boss says, even if you don\u2019t agree, to avoid any discussion or argument or kerfluffle\u2014or being fired!<\/span><\/p>

Conosco i miei polli<\/span><\/i>: \u201cI know my chickens\u201d\u2014means, you know what you\u2019re doing\u2014you know what people are up to, and you won\u2019t be fooled.<\/span><\/p>

It\u2019s fun to see how not only food is featured in these expressions, but also the down-home, commonsense, matter-of-fact approach to life found in Italy. Enjoy these expressions and discover many others!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"For some of these expressions, grazie mille to my amica, Carmela <\/span>Cavaliere, hospitality maven at the luxurious Villa Francesco in Positano, Italy (https:\/\/www.villafrancescopositano.it\/en\/).<\/a> Yes, she\u2019s the very same Carmela that appears as a character in my Adult\/Young adult mystery novel that takes place in Positano, SECRETS IN TRANSLATION (Fitrzroy Books, 2018), for which she was a wonderful help for research. On Instagram, she will enlighten you at @carmencitaitaly80. She also shares her family\u2019s no-fail recipe for Limoncello here<\/a> (or click the images below):<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Author of over thirty traditionally-published books for young readers, Margo Sorenson spent the first seven years of her life in Spain and Italy, devouring books and Italian food and still speaks (or tries!) her childhood languages. Her most recent Adult\/Young Adult novel, SECRETS IN TRANSLATION (Fitzroy Books, October 2018), takes place in Positano, with heroine Alessandra, whose being able to speak Italian\u2014with her understanding of Italian idioms\u2014helps\u00a0 her to feel at home in Italy, once again\u2014and solve a mystery that threatens those she loves. For more information on ordering SECRETS IN TRANSLATION and Margo’s other books, such as picture book SPAGHETTI SMILES, (do you see an Italian trend, here? <\/span>\ud83d\ude09<\/span>) please visit Margo\u2019s website at <\/span>www.margosorenson.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

You can follow Margo on social media:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Twitter\/X:<\/strong> @ipapaverison<\/span><\/p>

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Pinterest: <\/strong>http:\/\/pinterest.com\/margosorenson\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>

Instagram:<\/strong> @margosorensonwriter\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Bluesky: <\/strong><\/span>@margosorenson.bsky.social<\/p>

Goodreads: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/list\/60982.Margo_Sorenson<\/span><\/a><\/p>

Facebook: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/YAItalia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

LibraryThing: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.librarything.com\/author\/sorensonmargo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian Translation By Margo Sorenson \u201cDon\u2019t be a salame!\u201d Words are fun to play with, (you don\u2019t have to be a writer to know that!) and Italian expressions can often…Read More <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17304"}],"version-history":[{"count":70,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17435,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17304\/revisions\/17435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}