Marleen Rohmensen
As in almost all countries, Italy has a number of different police forces, the so-called Police: La Polizia Statale, i Vigili Urbani and of course the Carabinieri. The latter corps is comparable to our Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, but with broader powers.
The Corps of the Carabinieri was founded in 1814 by order of King Vittorio Emanuele I di Savoia. In today's Republic of Italy, it falls partly under the Ministry of Defense and partly under the Ministry of the Interior. The Carabinieri employs 105.000 people in various ranks.
The uniform of the carabinieri consists of a dark blue suit with wide, red vertical bands on the side of the pants. Over the years, a certain image of the carabinieri has developed in Italian society.
jokes about carabinieri
This is expressed in all kinds of jokes, with the sense that a carabiniere is not very intelligent. Actually comparable to the jokes that are woven into our culture, with which we put the intelligence of our southern neighbors in a dubious light. But what is this based on?
In the past, you didn't need any specific previous education to get to the carabinieri. Boys often dropped out of school at a young age and could then choose to join the carabinieri. You could also fulfill conscription with the carabinieri. The prejudice that these guys would be stupid because they wouldn't have any education was born at that time in the Italian culture.
During the time I lived in Italy I have had many Italian jokes heard about the carabinieri and laughed a lot about it too (often the duller, the funnier). I also discovered that some of our Belgian jokes lent themselves well to a one-to-one translation into Italian, centered on the carabinieri. Of course this also worked the other way around. Success guaranteed during a party.
cast
In recent years, a group of comedic actors in Italy – Mudù – have created a number of skits , in which they target the intelligence of the carabinieri in a very humorous way. Their 'stupid' facial expressions and way of speaking with a certain accent have a huge effect on the laughter muscles of many Italians (and on the laughter muscles of foreigners who understand the language and the Italian humor).
It is clear that the corps of the carabinieri certainly have an important role in Italian society and do a fine job of maintaining national security and public order. And this is certainly based on their intelligence and professionalism. The carabiniere itself is certainly strong enough to see the humor in it.
Thanks to the high degree of self-mockery and good sense of humor that the average Italian has, the Italian public still likes to laugh at these skits and the jokes. It is now intertwined with the culture.
Sketches about the carabinieri
A good friend of mine recently said to me: 'whenever I feel a bit down, I watch a few skits about the carabinieri and I feel happy again'.
I would like to share a few sketches with the readers of this blog and the lovers of the Italian language and culture. For the readers who are not familiar with the language, here is a short explanation so that you can still taste its humor.
In the first sketch, the manager (the maresciallo) explains to his subordinate that there are two types of carabinieri: the intelligent and the somewhat stupid. He repeats this and then points to himself at 'intelligent'.
He expresses the 'dumb' again by knocking on the desk (a typical Italian gesture to express 'stubborn or stupid', to which his subordinate wants to get up. The maresciallo then asks him where he is going. The subordinate says that there is a knock, whereupon the supervisor says: 'Never mind, I'll go.'
Also a nice sketch from Mudù is that of the two carabinieri who get into their car and find that everything has been stolen: the entire dashboard, the steering wheel, the pedals, the handbrake. A kind of theft that they have never experienced, they are in awe of it, they say.
They call the desk and ask the maresciallo to pick them up. Once they've sorted that out, they'll find out they made a mistake. They call the maresciallo again. no more words are needed for the punch line…
Have fun!
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