trinacriabob

on the response to thread: brain

horny

rattlesnake

Ti sei bevuto il cervello? You drank up your brain? (or maybe that someone drank their brain into oblivion) Phonetically, that's what I picked up. The single most useful Italian word, in my mind, is: VAFFANCULO! It is quite useful with all the pushy, obnoxious people in Italy...it could also fetch a black eye...oh well

Yes! response to thread: B-I-G H-A-I-R

Geeky pictures welcome! Would like to see the Bonne. You subscribe to a hosting site, no? The '92 Regal will hit 262,000 this weekend, provided I drive to a granolafied area for coffee and sightseeing on Saturday night as planned. It turns 17.5 years in mid-November and the folks at work will wonder why I am bringing in morning goodies then (since I'm generally "on the take" in this regard).

Far and away, the language rule that irritates me the most is in FRENCH. Like all the other Latin-based languages, they too have a word for 30, 40, 50, 60 ... and then IT STOPS. There is no single word for 70, 80, and 90...and the numbers in between. For 80, it's ottanta, ochenta, oitenta in IT/SP/PT. For the French, it's quatre-vingts, or four-twenties. When I tell someone I have a 92 Regal in French, it becomes a quatre-vingts douze (or, four-twenties + twelve). Two questions about it: 1) in the dark ages, did they not barter for anything over 69 francs that they couldn't come up with one word for 70 and so on? 2) I actually heard that only one region of France has one word for 70,80,90...if so, I'd like to know where...

TELEPHATHY as to what the next response might have been! Answer to thread: Pat Benatar

battlefield

bloodhound

@ Paolino: that's among one of the tougher combos...it makes me think that, only in 2003 did I learn that a masculine noun that starts with an "s" is not preceded by "il." Incorrect: il scontrino Correct: lo scontrino (a cash register receipt) I wouldn't expect any non-native speaker to master the subtleties you listed above even within a bachelor's program in Italian. The rules are mindboggling. @ Rob: Latin American Spanish is actually the correct Spanish. That's what you are taught in college, without the stupid-ass Castilian "theta"/lisp. I guess someone in Spain was paying me a compliment when they said: "Usted habla un Espanol correcto, que no es el Castellano." At least I took it as a compliment. Still scramble por and para every now and then...thinking that por is "for" and para is "directional/toward." I took French in H.S. and loved it. I still do. And I have NO problems with the French and get along extremely well with the Quebecois. That's why I go to Eastern Canada every couple of years and, since it's essentially a French speaking area of North America, I blend in very well. If I could survive in the bitter cold, I wouldn't mind living there. In autumn, I feel like I'm at home there. Growing up in L.A., I never took Spanish to help me interact with the locals. What the hell for? They need to learn English. I took it because I knew that I always wanted to go to Spain and Argentina, both of which I've been to and like immensely.

Birthday greetings!

devil's advocate

correct

Alcatraz

Escape (from L.A.)

gone fishin'

court order

Right, from 1100 to 1300, more or less, the French (Normans) held the island and helped shape the Sicilian dialect and the way many Sicilians look. The Spaniards hung out there from around 1600 to 1800, and we have some relatives whose last names end in "ez." Other Franco-Sicilian comparisons: Italian: comprare, Sicilian: accatare, French: acheter Italian: armadio, Sicilian: muarra, French: armoire Italian: bagnato, Sicilian (town specific): mogghiu, French: mouillee More interesting is that virtually all Sicilian pronouns and prepositions resemble Portuguese, though they never held the island: Italian: la macchina or il ristorante, Sicilian: a macchina or u ristorante, Portuguese: "a" and "o" are among their articles Italian: della Spagna or dell'inverno, Sicilian: da Spagna or do 'nverno, Portuguese: "da" and "do" are common prepositions Italian: nella primavera or nello specchio, Sicilian: na primavera or no specchio, Portuguese: "na" and "no" are common prepositions Most kids who grew up in homes where dialects were spoken, as you know, immediately knew 2 different languages. You spoke the dialect around people you knew but could NEVER speak it when traveling to a large city or when in an official place, like a government office, or you would be considered low-life. Still, the dialects are very entertaining, with the Neopolitan being the most irritating (in my mind).

merge

truck scale

podiatrist

I had to think through these contextually, which seemed to help. The first pair: I always think of a domanda as a specific, pointed question, whereas I think questione is more of an issue or topic that warrants discussion The second pair: This is tougher, but I think of spedire as actually standing there at the counter in the post office, whereas mandare could be broader, such as sending regards (ho mandato i miei saluti) or including something within something else (ti ho mandato un assegno con la lettera) The third pair: I think of differente as holding up 2, or 3 items, under scrutiny, whereas I think diverse is a broadbrush description of pluralism (diverse popoli hanno emigrato a Montreal) or comparing 2 or 3 items from a broad sample (tre macchine diverse che produce la General Motors utilizzano il 3800). Thank God it's only 9 cents a minute to Italy. I keep up my Italian by talking to my cousins every couple of weeks and my Sicilian by talking to my melodramatic Mom.

socks

cobbler