by DHales | Oct 24, 2013 | culture, history, Italy, Language, Music, Sayings and expressions, Social behavior, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
I dialettiThe dialects For centuries the Italian peninsula was a patchwork of hundreds of dialects, often as different from one another as French from Spanish or English from Italian. Sailors from Genoa couldn’t understand—or be understood by—merchants from Venice or...
by DHales | Jun 3, 2010 | Italy, Language, Sayings and expressions, Social behavior, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
furbocunning or crafty personOnly after years of visiting Italy did I realize that Italians admire rather than disdain a furbo, someone who can pull off a clever deception. “Che furbetto!” a young mother exclaimed rather proudly when her son shifted the blame for a...
by DHales | Jun 3, 2009 | Books, Current Affairs, Italy, Language, Sayings and expressions, Social behavior, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
spazzatura sweepings, trash, refuse At one of my first formal Italian classes, I entered the room with an empty paper coffee cup in hand. “Spazzatura?” the amiable young teacher asked. “Sì,” I responded, certain that I wanted whatever this spray of sibilant syllables...
