Pick up an Italian paper today and you'll read dobbiamo evitare il biscotto, or, sperando di evitare il biscotto.
No, Italians haven't been plagued with some sort of food crisis, Mulino Bianco will continue to exist. It's an idiom. An Italian idiom, which unsurprisingly has some food related connotation.
But why not "pan di spagna" (victoria sponge) or "trancino" (trancino). Evitiamo il pan di spagna. Evitiamo il trancino. Doesn't sound right does it?
It seems the importance, like in most idioms isn't so much the article, but the meaning. Makes sense really, Italians have effectively though classed their teams chances of progressing in the ilk of a... custard cream?
Shared idioms?
There is only one shared Italian and English idiom. "Sta piovendo cani e gatti" (It's raining cats and dogs). . That's it, both in translation and literal meaning. The one about smoke and fire is turned into "non c'e' fumo senza arrosto" (there's no smoke without a roast).
And perhaps that's where shared idioms should stop, heaven knows another press conference featuring Trapattoni translating "don't jump the gun" to some Italian equivalent, back to English to; "the cat is in the sack" is one too many for the languages to share.
It's better than "loggato" or "cliccato"
Not idioms, but newly accepted words. The Italian language has had a proliferation of invented words deriving from English, it seems a bit too lazy in part. "Ho cliccato il link" (I clicked on the link) or perhaps more disturbingly "ho loggato sul sito" (I logged onto the site).
Maybe new media is to blame, the internet or the fact that to create an Italian word for these terminologies would be too complex, too long, but still, if the French have a word for computer, surely the land which gave us Dante could find a nice "Italian" way of saying "perche' non andiamo a fare un po' di relax!" (Why don't we go and relax).
Some may call it language diffusion, others, language evolution. But seriously, if I get a request to "Chattare" or "Skypare" then I may, may, just scream.
No, Italians haven't been plagued with some sort of food crisis, Mulino Bianco will continue to exist. It's an idiom. An Italian idiom, which unsurprisingly has some food related connotation.
But why not "pan di spagna" (victoria sponge) or "trancino" (trancino). Evitiamo il pan di spagna. Evitiamo il trancino. Doesn't sound right does it?
It seems the importance, like in most idioms isn't so much the article, but the meaning. Makes sense really, Italians have effectively though classed their teams chances of progressing in the ilk of a... custard cream?
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| "Italy needs to avoid the trancino" Yep, still doesn't sound right! |
Shared idioms?
There is only one shared Italian and English idiom. "Sta piovendo cani e gatti" (It's raining cats and dogs). . That's it, both in translation and literal meaning. The one about smoke and fire is turned into "non c'e' fumo senza arrosto" (there's no smoke without a roast).
And perhaps that's where shared idioms should stop, heaven knows another press conference featuring Trapattoni translating "don't jump the gun" to some Italian equivalent, back to English to; "the cat is in the sack" is one too many for the languages to share.
It's better than "loggato" or "cliccato"
Not idioms, but newly accepted words. The Italian language has had a proliferation of invented words deriving from English, it seems a bit too lazy in part. "Ho cliccato il link" (I clicked on the link) or perhaps more disturbingly "ho loggato sul sito" (I logged onto the site).
Maybe new media is to blame, the internet or the fact that to create an Italian word for these terminologies would be too complex, too long, but still, if the French have a word for computer, surely the land which gave us Dante could find a nice "Italian" way of saying "perche' non andiamo a fare un po' di relax!" (Why don't we go and relax).
Some may call it language diffusion, others, language evolution. But seriously, if I get a request to "Chattare" or "Skypare" then I may, may, just scream.
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