Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Beginnings
As the spring semester and school year draw to a close, the Bunnell-Detwiler family begins preparing to live in Italy for several months. Tim and Char are teaching American study abroad students through the CIMBA program at Paderno del Grappa, and daughters Abbey (19) and Emma (11) will be studying there as well. We are very excited to experience the culture of Italy, to travel, and to meet new friends. The to-do list is extensive before we leave on 25 August! The top item -- learn Italian!
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12 comments:
Hello Family!! This is fun!
Here's the first of what will be my daily Italian lesson (gleaned from five years of addiction to the Sopranos...)
"Bobby Baccala"
Meaning: Buckle your seatbelt.
Usage: To be said to your kids when they get in the car.
Example: Is everyone Bobby Baccala?
Word Origin: Part character name, part parenting fun. One of the capos of the family, Bobby Baccalieri was a big bearhug of a guy (the antithesis of the mafioso archetype) who enjoyed model trains and spending time with his kids. His boss, Tony Soprano called him Bobby Baccala for short.
Practice the word.
Feel free to use it liberally, especially on Emma.
You'll be surprised how quickly it becomes part of your daily lexicon.
So you know, I don't really know any Italian! Does SE Philly, or NY Italian count? What about the hand gestures? Wait...I probably shouldn't go there :) Anyway, make sure you learn the difference between "sauce" and "gravy."
ciao bella. hello gorgeous! okay, that's a very broad interpretation. bella means beautiful and ciao means goodbye. and really, who wants to say goodbye? but that's the extent of my italian. i am sooooo jealous. or rather, i'm envious. jealousy is mean. but thank you for inviting me to join your journey - at least virtually. it's all very exciting.
Hi Family! This is a fabo way of keeping us all in the loop while you are traveling, and studying, and experiencing Italy! WOW! I wanna come!!!!
My youngest girl is currently attempting to learn Italian, an experiment in learning her boyfriend's first language. His family has a home in ITaly where they reside a few months each year. Who know's maybe I will get the chance some day to visit.
Leave it to Randy to have a TV slant on your education. Too Funny!
We do all love Randy so!
Amare to you all!
I am so excited for you all. I know absolutely no Italian and, unfortutnately, I don't know the difference between sauce and gravy... I will live vicariously through your messages to us all, and hopefully through pictures you post! See you soon!
In Bocca al Lupo
"Into the wolf's mouth". I don't know why, but this is the phrase used instead of "Good luck" before an event, exam, etc., somewhat in the sense of "You never say 'good luck' on opening night" (instead you say "Break a leg").
The proper response is Crepi il lupo ("May the wolf die" - which is to say: "I'm going into the wolf's mouth, and may he choke on me.")
A ruder version used nowadays is In culo alla balena - in the whale's ass. I'm not sure whether the whale is also supposed to die.
Okay so my home computer doesn't like allowing me access to this page. Aargh! Anyway the last post I copied from http://www.beginningwithi.com/italy/living/idiom.html
I figured if I didn't know any Italian I'd find someone who does :) Anyway, I thought this was a cute site that would help you to catch up on your useful phrases. You can also find the swear words there. Not that any of you ever swear ;)
Naturally we don't ever swear, Dee!! I know I'm hoping that mispronunciation of a vowel or dipthong won't lead me to embarrassment as it did when I lived in Switzerland. I substituted "scheissen" for "schiessen," the latter mean "to shoot." You can easily guess what the former means. Ah, vowels can be tricky at times!
Here's another old favorite from my best friend, PJ, still living back home in Beanersville:
Aspetta (phonetic spelling)
Pronounced, shbetta.
He used it when he wanted me to hurry up.
His Sicilian grandfather, Santo Ricchiazzi, would tell him shbetta when it was time for him to stop lollygagging and get his ass in the car.
So, yah, here I am with the car thing again.
I am Bostonian you remember.
And we are very angry when it comes to the car.
And far be it for me to use another TV reference, as if I'm a TV guy or something Bev. Poo on you. Soporanos is (was) High-Literature telly.
Well, Randy, I confess to never having seen "The Sopranos," and from what I have heard/read about it, don't really care to. (Sorry, I'm not a "The Godfather" fan either as I love northern Italy.) Anyway, I like "aspetta"; what a great word! It reminds me of my grandmother's Welsh for "shut up" -- "kite a gag" (pronunciation only -- don't even ask me to spell Welsh, the language that resists vowels and short words). Anyway, Grandma Bray, Victorian gentlewoman that she was, used that Welsh phrase several times on her 9 children and 30 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren before she died.
I see that siena is part of your itin. my boss has lifelong friends there from their first visit to that part of Italy. The two families happened to meet perchance and now they actually stay at their house when they visit! he says it's the most beautiful place he's ever been...for pure beauty's sake--and he's been everywhere--from Prague to Paris, Vail and Vancouver.
Glad to hear that about Siena, Randy. As I was researching parts of Tuscany, I "discovered" Siena, and as a result, reorganized our post-semester travels to include a week there before heading to nearby Cortona. We've rented a lovely apartment in the heart of the city (at a cost less than 2-3 nights at Disney World!!) I'm interested in checking out the university there. Hmmmmm . . .
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