When it comes to the Italian language, the locals know how to get creative. They can make swear words into nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and the results are generally quite funny and more often than not, become part of the national vernacular. After the weekend’s Milan football derby between AC Milan and FC Internazionale, though, we get another term called the “cassanata”.

The term refers to AC Milan football player (previously with Sampdoria) Antonio Cassano and his spontaneous folly which often gets him into trouble. Doing something silly in Italian can now be referred to as the “cassanata”. After the weekend’s match, for example, in the total of about a minute Cassano managed to score a goal, get a yellow card and then be sent off with a red.

The reason? Cassano scored a penalty goal against Inter to make the final score of 3-0 and in his euforia, took his shirt off, earning himself a yellow card. After a few more seconds of play, he made a foul on another player, got a second yellow card and therefore a red, and was sent off. If you’re familiar with the colourful character of Cassano, none of that will be a surprise to you. In a post-match interview, Cassano says:

“Mine is a world record: goal, booking and send-off in one minute, although I’m happy to have participated in the history of the Milan derby; that way, I’ve scored in five derbies in five different cities. While I was trying to defend against Cordoba, I was convinced I had got a yellow, but I was so happy over the goal that I forgot I had just been booked: it was a naive thing to do and I’ll pay for it. I’ve done plenty of naive things in my career and hope I’ll always do less.”

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Christmas in Italy is not normally a time when Italians make long lists of all the people they need to write Christmas cards to, spending a small fortune in stamps and stationery. In fact, probably because families still often live close together in small knit communities, the Christmas card tradition is virtually unknown here. But if it happens that you need to wish someone a Merry Christmas in Italian, there are a few ways you can do that.

The classic “auguri” (wishes) works well for almost every occasion - from birthdays to weddings and the birth of a child. It’s great for Christmas too, but if you’re a die-hard Anglo who wants to write something more significat on your Italian Christmas card, you might need something a bit more elaborate. The team at Italymag has put together a list of ways you can do this, including the traditional “buon natale e felice anno nuovo”. They’ve also included a few other Italian language tips you’ll need to know if you live in Italy - like the fact that Santo Stefano is Boxing Day. Pop on over to see their suggestions.

Photo | Flickr

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We’ve seen world famous Italian gestures in this hilarious Italian video, and here we bring you a post on Italian gestures - in pictures! Ever wanted to know exactly what the guy was telling you when you hired your car in Italy? Or what the old men at the bar were arguing about? This is your chance.

Careful study of these pictures will allow you to communicate effectively in Italy, regardless of your level of Italian knowledge. In fact, we’re thinking they should be a fundamental part of any Italian language course. Our word of advice before you go launching yourself into a full gestured conversation with any Italian is to spend the first days of your holiday in Italy observing how these are used. You wouldn’t want to use the wrong one at the wrong time….

Source | Alfredo Cassano via Happblog.it

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I’ve recently been reading Beppe Severgnini’s second book on the English language: L’inglese nuove lezioni semiserie. Many of his observations on how Italians use English are not only funny but also very accurate, one of them being the Italian language obsession with the acronym ‘VIP’ said as if it were a one-syllable word (vip). If I had only seen it in the book I might not have paid much attention, but yesterday I was reminded of the elevation of many Italian celebrities to ‘VIP’ status by the Italian press itself.

The gossip is the possible liaison between world champion golfer Tiger Woods and Italian showgirl and former Big Brother star, Cristina del Basso. The showgirl got herself where she is not by virtue of her own VIP status but that of her boobs, having the largest breasts on Italian television (until Francesca Cipriani turned up on telly). While del Basso has denied the Woods connection, the Italian television tabloid service Studio Aperto had already defined her a ‘VIP’.

We’re not sure if Cristina earned the status before for having revealed her love life with Fabrizio Politi, or if it’s directly linked to the rumours of the dalliance with an international sports star. If there’s nothing the Italians like better it’s a local girl in bed with someone famous, possibly American (take Elisabetta Canalis as an example). In any case, it seems del Basso should have her celebrity status on cheap television shows all wrapped up after this kind of rumour.

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A Fish called Wanda, one of the brilliant commedies of the 1980s, has one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen in my life! Of course I’m talking about the scene in which Kevin Kline stirs Jamie Lee Curtis’s blood by speaking in Italian! Push the button and laugh with me!

After the jump, you can also watch the Italian version in which Kevin Kline speak Spanish! Enjoy!

Continue reading: A Fish called Wanda: do you speak Italian?

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English and Italian borrow words from each other, with Italian words in English generally of the culinary variety. After I was roundly criticised by one commenter for making fun of Italians and their use of the word ‘trendy’, we thought we’d take a closer look at how the two languages interact and indulge in a little Italian lesson.

Having a laugh in the office one day about the Italian words that English people use, the expression “al fresco” came up. We generally use this to mean dining or eating outside; be it on a terrace, in a garden or on a footpath, the important thing is that you’re in the open air.

Discovering this bizarre English expression borrowed from Italian created much hilarity among my colleagues. For the English out there, using this expression in your own country is fine - you can paint it all over the windows of your restaurant, if you like. Just don’t use it in Italy as it doesn’t really mean anything. Dining “all’aperto” is a much better expression, or if you know that the restaurant has this kind of facility, specify that you would like a table on the terrace, or in the garden.

Photo | Flickr

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In a long interview granted to Italian magazine Grazia, American actress Hilary Swank talked at length about her love for Italy and its language. The first time she visited the country , she was 16 and fell immediately in love with the country. And now that her ties with Italy have been somehow strengthen by her love for her fiancée John Campano whose parents were born here in Italy, she devotes her free time to learning Italian. She still makes a lot of mistakes but people in Italy , said the actress, are so kind that they pretend not to hear them!!

Fonte: settimanale Grazia

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A mime artist attacks a drunk guy with his juggling equipment in Heineken’s “Know the Signs” viral marketing campaign against excessive drinking. The mime artist is in Italy, and, in the funny viral commercial, the guy filming says “I’m going to put this on the internet as soon as I get home.” I have seen a drunken brawl in Italy once (the weapon of choice was a chair), but it wasn’t as funny as this, and certainly didn’t have the public awareness issue. For your Italian lessons, the closing lines are: “Che idiota, ragazzi”, or “what an idiot, guys”. For more on the Heineken campaign, check out Knowthesigns.com, but make sure you’re over 18.

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The Italian language is everywhere, especially in the world of cooking (where Italians believe that theirs is the best cuisine on earth), and with the new year come new dictionaries around the world. While some English words are adopted into the Italian language (try hearing “trendy” pronounced by Italians, for example), Italian words appear many times over in foreign language dictionaries.

The new Zanichelli German dictionary, for example, includes the traditional Italian vocab we’ve come to know, with words such as pizza, spaghetti, mozzarella, salame and mortadella. New Italian words for 2010, though, include rucola (rocket lettuce), gnocchi and bruschetta. Please remember that bruschetta is pronounced with a hard ‘c’ sound and not ’sh’.

Could it be that a simple Italian bread with tomatoes on the top is a rival to the fame of pizza? While some words were an obvious addition, including caffé and cappuccino, others were more left field. Like “latte macchiato” for example, which is actually known in the English speaking world as “caffé latte” (this should provide some confusion for coffee lovers in Italy). Others that were less obvious are “parmigiano” and the full term “aceto balsamico” or balsamic vinegar, which follow the new European Union DOP and IGT classification laws.

Photo | Flickr

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Every series of Italy’s Big Brother has at least one hysterical housemate. Here there are two, Veronica and Gabriele, who have apparently been doing nothing but arguing since they got in there, for the joy of Italian television viewers. For today’s lesson on the Italian language, and Italian swear words, you only need to watch the video. Which towards the end gets very trashy with our young, wannabe Italian show girl going off her brain when Gabriele says that you could buy her with just one “lira”.

Apparently she’s the classic hot chick with “only sawdust for brains” as one commenter says on Gossipblog. But then there are those who say she isn’t attractive at all (especially without make-up), and then….Oh the controversies! It’s tough going in the Big Brother household, and we’ll be bringing you more of this exciting action in the future.

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