Language

Hilarious Italian idioms

Italian is a weird and wonderful language, with a seemingly infinite amount of idioms.

Each Italian dialect has an endless list unique sayings, and every single town has a different dialect (Wikipedia says there are only 34 native Italian dialects/languages, but most of the Italians I’ve spoken with strongly disagree with that).

I started keeping track of the really strange ones about one month ago, realising how interesting they might be to native English-speakers. So, please enjoy!

Disclaimer:
I barely speak Italian. I am still learning, have *so far* only lived in Milan, and really, have barely scratched the surface. This is just a shortlist of the funniest Italian idioms I’ve come across.
All images are stock photos.


In boca al lupo!
Literal translation: In the mouth of the wolf!
Meaning: Good luck!

And in response you say: Crepi il lupo
Literally: You crack the wolf.
Meaning: May you kill it.

Non vedo l’ora!
Literal translation: I can’t see the hour!
Meaning: I cannot wait!

Rompere le scatole
Literally: To break boxes.
Meaning: To get on someone’s nerves.

Mangiare in bianco
Literally: To eat in white.
Meaning: To eat plain, starchy foods (when you have an upset stomach).

Passare un notte in bianco
Literally: To spend a night in white
Meaning: A sleepless night.

Bonus info: The phrase does not mean the sleeper didn’t close their eyes. It actually has a strange historical significance, deriving from a medieval ceremony. An aspiring knight would spend the entire night before this ceremony fasting and praying, while dressed completely in white. Italian author Italo Calvino first used this phrase in 1952, in his book Il visconte dimezzato (if you can read Italian, see explanation by Focus.it here).


Cavolo!
Literally: Cabbage!
Meaning: Damn/bugger!

Avere le braccia corte
Literally: To have short arms.
Meaning: To be stingy/cheap/miserable (i.e. you’re unable to reach into your pockets for anything).

Italians also have weird animal idioms, relating human personality traits to that of an animal:

  • un coniglio (rabbit): A coward.
  • una civetta (owl): A flirt.
  • un pesce (fish): Someone who doesn’t talk (kind of like a ‘stunned mullet’ in English).
  • un pollo da spennare (a chicken waiting to be plucked): Someone who can be taken advantage of.
  • una volpe (fox): Someone clever, sly and cunning.

Avere lo stomaco da struzzo:
Literally: To have the stomach of an ostrich.
Meaning: Someone who can eat anything and suffer no side effects.

Avere la faccia da pesce lesso
Literally: To have the face of boiled fish.
Meaning: To be slack-jawed, and/or have extremely low sexual energy.

Prendere un pesce in faccia
Literally: To take a fish in the face.
Meaning: To be rude or impolite to someone.

Inghiottire il rospo 
Literally: To swallow the toad.
Meaning: It’s akin to ‘eating your words‘ in English, i.e. the silence and humiliation experienced after being proved wrong.

Sputare il rospo
Literally: To spit the toad.
Meaning: Akin to ‘spit it out‘ in English, i.e. to say whatever it is that you’re avoiding saying.

Credi che abbiamo i asini alimentato a salsiccia qui? 
Literally: Do you believe that we have sausage-fed donkeys here?
Meaning: Do you think that everything here is simple and easy?

NB: I never actually heard this one in Italian – just English – and have translated it myself. Hopefully it’s correct!

BONUS ROUND feat. hilarious Australian Idiom

Fischiare alle ulive
Literally: To whistle to the olives.
Meaning: To waste time.
Australian equivalent: We’re not here to fuck spiders.

Thanks for being here.

So. This is my travel blog – one year in Italy. Thanks for being here.

I should start by explaining what the point of this is; why I gave up a stable job, budding career and a wonderfully easy life in Melbourne (previously the world’s most liveable city) to take a ‘gap year’ in Italy – the land of bureaucracy, where almost nothing works (but also the land of pizza, pasta, coffee, romance).

It’s not that easy to explain to anyone, let alone myself.

Firstly, I guess I have always had an affinity to Italy. My paternal grandparents were born, raised and married in Trieste, Italy, before immigrating to Australia in search of a better life post-war, around 1955, and giving birth to my father. My mother, on the other hand, was born in Greece, and immigrated to Australia when she was 8 years old. Meanwhile, I was born in what can only be described as regional Australia – in fact, one of the most Anglo-Saxon electorates in the whole of Australia. Despite having this mixed heritage, both of which have influenced me in different ways, I have always gravitated towards my Italian side.

Secondly, I never took a gap year. I am acutely aware that this is a privileged concept, gaining popularity with upper-middle class Australian millennials, but damn – after 7 years of intensive higher education, and 2 years of full-time work, I could totally get around the idea of a gap year.

Thirdly, my biggest (and frankly, only) regret is that I never went on exchange. It’s such a wonderful learning opportunity that I missed out on, or didn’t make time for.

And that brings me to my final, super personal reason; I needed the space and time for my mental health. I’ve suffered from some depression and panic attacks over the past 6 years. While my symptoms have lessened in severity, I’ve still had difficulty dedicating time to my mental health. So, this is going to be that time.

Part of me is hoping that no one reads this self-indulgent blog; the other part is excited to have the chance to write. Either way, I’m going to put it out into the webiverse and see what happens.

NB: All photos published on this blog are my own.

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