Hi folks,
Today I talk to you about the word fiasco. You know, this noun in English language is used to describe a failure, a flop, a fiasco indeed. In Italian the main meaning of fiasco is a wicker wine but there’s a way of saying where Fiasco has the same meaning of the English one. Fare fiasco, literally: to make a wicker wine bottle. But what does a bottle have to do with a failure? It comes from a true story: Many years ago, a Florentine actor used to perform his monologues with different objects, pretending to talking to them; people had fun and really appreciated it. One night, during an exhibition with a wicker wine, spectators didn’t like the show and started whistling at him. Then if something doesn’t meet the expectations it’s called a fiasco. It’s an interesting story isn’t it? Anyway, as far as I remember, flop it sounds to me more natural than fiasco and considering I’m Italian that’s a really odd thing.
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Hi folks, Newspapers are always a mine of information if you are looking for a way of saying and wordplays. After the Donald Trump victory in the US presidential elections, the Italian newspaper Il Tempo published this Attaccateve al Trump is a way of saying and wordplay in Roman slang at the same time.
Il Tempo is an oriented right wing newspaper located in Rome and seemed to really appreciate the victory of the Tycoon. First of all take a look at the imperative verb Attaccateve instead of Attaccatevi ( You, cling to sth or hang on sth). Then the wordplay Trump which plays with the pronunciation Tram. You know, in Italy we don’t have a proper accent like native speakers so the sound of the words Trump and tram are really similar for us Attaccatevi al Trump (tram), literally: hold on to the tram means: now it’s your problem or, if you want, you’re fucked up. I know you’re a bit confused at least, what does the tram have to do with it? It seems that a long time ago trams had protrusions and late passengers could grab them and jumping on the tram. In the end not the best place to have a trip, so the way of saying: if you’re on late you have to accept it and do it on your own way. In this contest the wordplay Attaccatevi al Trump means: you thought Trump would never had the chance of victory, you laughed at him, now it’s your problem, deal with it. The content of this topic could be really hard to get for an english speaker but more easy for a German or Spanish speaker. We are starting with Italian subject pronouns: I io (I) noi (we) II tu (you, informal) voi (you) III lui, lei (he, she) loro (they) Lui (you, formal) Loro (you, formal) So if I say "lei è andata al mare" it means "she gone to the beach". It implies that when we use the pronoun "Lei" (She) we talking about a feminine noun. What if I address a person in a conversation? Should I use always "tu" (you)? Doesn't work like this in Italian, it depends on the context. We make an example of these situations: I'm 36, so if I should have a conversation with a kid I would address to him with "tu" "Ciao, come stai?" (Hi how are you?) It's the same if I talk with people who are the same age as me or generally with friends, colleagues, relatives etc. Things change when I talk to people who I don't know or with people older than me unless they are, for example, relatives. The pronoun "Lei" for example is often used in job interviews , TV interviews, politics etc. Summarizing you can say that using "Lei" is a good way to approach someone in a polite way. Hope you enjoy it! |
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