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Le Professioni–Part 2 Posted by Serena on Jul 5, 2013
In the last article we looked at nouns which describe professions, and in particular those words that don’t change their ending from masculine to feminine, i.e. professions ending in –ista such as farmacista (pharmacist, chemist), and professions ending in –nte such as insegnante (teacher). Today we are going to look at two more main groups…
Le Professioni–Part 1 Posted by Serena on Jul 3, 2013
Recently Geoff wrote an article about Luciano Lutring, “il solista del mitra” (the machine gun soloist). We had a comment from a reader asking why, in the title “il solista del mitra” we use the article il (masc. sing.) rather than la (fem. sing.), since the word solista ends in –a, which is the typical…
Una Visita Dal Cardiologo Posted by Serena on Jun 28, 2013
Lunedì mattina ho accompagnato mio padre all’ospedale per un elettrocardiogramma e una visita cardiologica di routine. L’appuntamento era per le 8.30 del mattino, per cui mi sono dovuta alzare prima delle 7.00 (io che odio alzarmi la mattina presto!), per essere a casa dei miei per le 8.00. Siamo arrivati all’ospedale alle 8.15 e nella…
Breaking The Boxes Posted by Serena on Jun 21, 2013
Rompere le scatole (to break the boxes) is a very commonly used Italian euphemism for rompere le palle (to break one’s balls), or to be more vulgar rompere i coglioni (to break one’s testicles). This idiomatic expression is used with the meaning of “to really annoy someone”: “Basta, mi stai rompendo le scatole!” (“Enough, you’re…
Without Title Posted by Serena on Jun 13, 2013
At the moment I’m reading a book by the writer Andrea Camilleri, world famous creator of the fictional detective Salvo Montalbano. The book I’m reading, which was published in 2005, is a historical detective novel entitled Privo di titolo (Without title). It’s set in Sicily, Camilleri’s favourite location for his stories, during the Fascist era…
Babel’s Tower Posted by Serena on Jun 11, 2013
Last weekend Geoff and I went to Zurigo, Svizzera (Zurich, in Switzerland), for my cousin Francesca’s 50th birthday. Francesca, whose parents are both Italian, grew up in Switzerland, where her father used to work for the Italian Embassy in Zurich. She married a Swiss lawyer, and has two teenage children. Bilingual in Italian and Swiss…
Focaccia al Mais Posted by Serena on Jun 7, 2013
Just outside Pontremoli there’s a bakery that makes a delicious focaccia al mais (cornmeal focaccia). As much as I’d like to buy it fresh every day, it’s not practical for me and Geoff, because we live in a tiny little village 10 km north of Pontremoli, in the opposite direction from the bakery. So, as…