Steve Smulders
Since living in Italy, I sometimes discover words and expressions that I never encountered in the Italian lessons I took, probably because they were too unimportant. The hard grammar took precedence! But often these little things are very nice to know. Using the alphabet, I will describe a number of such facts in the coming weeks in 5 episodes. Hereby part 1, from A to C.
A from Alto
"Ma è più grande di te?Roberto wanted to know. Whether Nico's sister Nel was older than him. Nico thought, he himself was 1,80 m, but Nel was a bit shorter, he thought. „No, più piccola,so he replied. Roberto did not understand: „No, non intendo Vera, ma come si chiama, Nel!"
"Si, si,my husband confirmed. Time to intervene, I realized. This confusion of tongues would not come to a solution on its own. What Roberto meant was whether Nel was older than Nico, not taller or taller. In Italy, someone who is older is said to be 'bigger', più grande. Più anziano also possible, if you want to avoid confusion.
In Dutch we know it from bigger or smaller brother, but we don't use the saying 'my brother is bigger'. Italians are more consistent, because they also use lower en greater for smaller or larger brother or sister.
But what is the word for a person's height in Italian? That's what the word is used for high, which, however, is not only long and high but also low or deep, deep, can mean!
Come alto il mare, how deep is the sea. Or: how high are the waves? The first meaning sounds very strange to us and it can be very confusing, as I discovered during my now deceased study of Medieval Culture.
L'alto medioevo is not the same as the High Middle Ages: the Italian scholars denote the early, deep, middle ages, while in English it is precisely the late, high, culturally much more developed ages.
And then you have old: sounds like old (in German), looks like high and means stop, or halt for normal people without a speech impediment, who can pronounce the 'h' properly ;-).
B from Bruno
The always somewhat reserved, well-groomed gentleman who holds office every morning in the town hall of our hometown of Montecalvo Versiggia, looked into the dolls of my eyes and concluded: „Green.” The color of my eyes was green. He jotted it down in his graceful handwriting in what I coveted identity card would become.
An Italian ID, I was almost a real Italian! Well no, let me not exaggerate: a passport was not an option for the time being, as long as the Dutch government does not allow its citizens to have more than one nationality. Still, it was a momentous milestone and it was almost there…or was it?
"Hair color?" the official demanded now, looking at my bald head where once, long ago, there was a luxuriant head of hair. But not anymore. Still, a color of hair had to be filled in. Bald either bald was not allowed, while we were, of all things, in the municipality of the bald mountain, monte calvo, goods. What was once the color of my long-lamented head hair? Reddish brown, I remembered (vaguely).
"Bruno,I blurted out. „Come on bruno?was the astonished reaction of the congregation servant. After some more wrangling, he came to the conclusion that I brown meant, brown in Italian. Hairs are never bruno, but brown of brown of red, blond or whatever. It was noted. My date of birth was no problem (I was old enough to be bald, no contradictions), there was a lot of stamping and that was it.
I left the town hall completely happy. You would almost think I had my haircut back, I was that happy. But what was now bruno? It existed as a word, I knew that, but what did it mean if it wasn't brown. The dictionary did provide some clarification, but not completely. Bruno seems to be mainly used to indicate a dark color, close to black. Okay, but that will soon be… brown again, right? Finesse, finesse.
C from Costume
I surfaced with my head again and saw someone on the side gesturing at me. The lifeguard, the lifeguard. „Metti la cuffia!I thought I understood. “Put on the bathing cap!”. Oh dear, I was the swimming cap forget. In Italian swimming pools, wearing a bathing cap is mandatory, because all those dirty hairs that would otherwise remain behind, getter.
Only, I have no hair. At least, not in the place that the bathing cap usually covers. Well on my cheeks and chin and also on the rest of my body, just like many Italian men, because they are a hairy people. And many Italian male heads are shaved bald: the Pantani look.
So why the mandatory hat? In the summer it suddenly doesn't have to be, as I saw from the young people who populated the pool during the holidays. Without bathing caps. The lifeguards have probably given up trying to train the restless young people. But now, outside the holiday season, the authority eagerly seizes the power that belongs to it. Hat compulsory, no exceptions.
A bathing cap is one cuffia da bagno, which is not that hard to remember. But a swimsuit or bathing suit? Each time, I struggle to dig the right word out of my increasingly bottomless, rickety memory.
Underwear is the word that always emerges first from the deep recesses. But that's not the right word, because it means underwear. Enter the pool in your underwear, the lifeguards would have a heart attack!
What is it then? Something about a suit, I keep thinking these days, to give myself a reminder. And a suit is a suit so… swimsuit! Hey, good luck, I remember. But not for long because next time I have to think about it again. Just like hot en cold.
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