^ Milan billboard advertising a van: “Milanese Proverb. The master commands, the horse [he] trots.”
^ This sign on a train has been altered from “service rooms” to “torture rooms”.
^ I don’t remember where I took this picture, but it says “Dogs have the right to make dirty [poop], masters have the duty to clean up.”
^ This touching graffito says: “Little one, I miss you!!! Thanks for everything.”
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Gianna
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| Gianna Gianna Gianna sosteneva, tesi e illusioni | Gianna Gianna Gianna supported theses and illusions | ||||
| Gianna Gianna Gianna prometteva, pareti e fiumi | … promised walls and rivers | ||||
| Gianna Gianna aveva un coccodrillo, ed un dottore | … had a crocodile, and a doctor | ||||
| Gianna non perdeva neanche un minuto, per fare l’amore* | …never wasted a minute in making love * | ||||
| Ma la notte la festa è finita, evviva la vita | But at night the party’s over, hurrah for life | ||||
| Chorus: | |||||
| La gente si sveste e comincia un mondo | People get undressed and a world begins | ||||
| un mondo diverso, ma fatto di sesso | A different world, but made of sex | ||||
| e chi vivrà vedrà … | And who lives, will see. | ||||
| Gianna Gianna Gianna non cercava il suo pigmalione | …wasn’t searching for her Pygmalion | ||||
| Gianna difendeva il suo salario, dall’inflazione | …defended her salary from inflation | ||||
| Gianna Gianna Gianna non credeva a canzoni o UFO | …didn’t believe in songs or UFOs | ||||
| Gianna aveva un fiuto eccezionale, per il tartufo | …had an exceptional nose for truffles | ||||
| (chorus) | |||||
| Ma dove vai, vieni qua, ma che fai? | But where are you going, come here, what are you doing? | ||||
| Dove vai, con chi ce l’hai? Vieni qua, ma che fai? | Where are you going, who are you mad at… | ||||
| Dove vai, con chi ce l’hai? Di chi sei, ma che vuoi? | …Whose are you, but what do you want? | ||||
| Dove vai, con chi ce l’hai? Butta la’, vieni qua, | …Throw it there, come here, | ||||
| chi la prende e a chi la da! Dove sei, dove stai? | Who takes it and who gives it! Where are you, where are you staying? | ||||
| Fatti sempre i fatti tuoi! Di chi sei, ma che vuoi? | Always mind your own business!… | ||||
| Il dottore non c’e’ mai!Non c’e’ mai! Non c’e’ mai! | The doctor’s never here! He’s never here! Never here! | ||||
| Tu non prendi se non dai! Vieni qua, ma che fai? | You don’t get if you don’t give! Come here, but what are you doing? | ||||
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* This line can be interpreted in at least three different ways:
I had originally thought of the first two possible interpretations, with my daughter supporting number two. Then my husband came up with twist number three, because he interprets the song to mean that Gianna does it for money. Rino Gaetano is long dead, so we can’t ask him… |
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above: Piazza Gambara, Milano – Vorrei svegliarti ogni mattina con un bacio – “I’d like to wake you every morning with a kiss.”
This sign mysteriously appeared on a bus stop in Lecco. I haven’t seen any others like it, and have no idea who’s responsible, whether it’s one it a series…?
It says: “When you take 5 minutes to do what others do in 5 days YOU GET BORED – I QUIT”
We spotted this poster in a small-town bar, for a series of festivities hosted by a local parish. I was particularly struck by the activities for May 1st: In large type, a donkey race, followed in the evening by “dinner with donkey stew, polenta, ribs, and sausage.”
Eating donkey (and horse) is not unheard-of, but, in the context, seems a bit rude…
Stefano Tonti, supplier of one of the funniest newspaper headlnes I’ve yet seen, strikes again, this time with a graffito which is also a grammar lesson. It originally said “Marty I love you” (ti amo), but was overwritten to the past tense: ti amavo – “I loved you.”
This piece of rude irony by Elio e le Storie Tese (Elio and the Tense Stories) is a good example of the use of the conditional tense in Italian, as well as covering some common Italian slang, and some use of English words in everyday Italian.The video features Gianni Morandi, for no apparent reason (except friendship with the band, I suppose). The subtitles are slogan-like statements about shampoo, beauty treatments, and the importance of diet and exercise in maintaining one’s looks. The final line is “It’s beautiful to be beautiful.”
The video is filmed, I think, in Milan’s Chinatown, except for the last scenes (jogging) in the Galleria and the Piazza del Duomo.
Continue reading Learn Italian in Song: Fossi Figo^ above: Occasione means “For sale, great deal!” (And no wonder…)
^ June 14, 2006 – This new shop in Lecco is “opening soon” (prossima = soon or next, apertura = opening [noun]). But maybe it’ll close soon after?
^ English education in Italy clearly never includes proper use of the apostrophe (a common mistake among native speakers as well, I know!). I simply cannot think of a correct English usage that would be spelled Pant’s. Except in India where the name Pant (pronounced Punt) is fairly common, so you could be referring to something belonging to Mr. or Ms. Pant.
^ We were walking past a church where a funeral was being held, the hearse parked outside waiting to go to the cemetery, when this official car from the City of Lecco pulled up. The office of servizi demografici (population services) keeps track of the local population. Had they come to make sure the person was actually dead?
^ A chi non farebbe gola? – “Who wouldn’t get hungry for this?”
You could say Sono golosa/o di... or Sono ghiotto/a di to say that you love a particulare kind of food, e.g. cioccolato.
^ Scontata means discounted, but is also used for “taken for granted.” So this advertisement is a play on words: “Happiness is discounted/taken for granted.”
These were part of a series of punny posters advertising flooring materials.
Ne combiniamo di tutti i colori literally means “We put [things] together in all colors,” and can be roughly translated as “We get up to all sorts of mischief.”
In this case, of course, the pun is on the combination of (racial) colors in the picture, and that they seem to be getting up to some sort of hanky-panky (Italy doesn’t know about cheerleaders.)
Supportiamo tutto – “We support/put up with/bear anything”, referring to load weights. I can’t help thinking that in the US they would have to show much fatter people to make their point…
