{"id":15128,"date":"2017-11-02T10:33:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T09:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=15128"},"modified":"2017-11-02T10:33:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T09:33:01","slug":"che-palle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/che-palle\/","title":{"rendered":"Che Palle!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, we’ve<\/span> discussed<\/b><\/u> bottoms<\/b><\/u><\/a>,<\/span> now I think it’s time to move onto another anatomical region that gives rise to a plethora of colloquial Italian expressions … balls!<\/span><\/p>\n

My recent inclusion of the expression ‘che palle’<\/strong> in our blog <\/b><\/u>Una Gita A Parma<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span>, and more expressly my English translation ‘what a bore’, seems to have caused a bit of consternation amongst ‘literal translators’. “But surely ‘che palle’<\/strong> means ‘what balls!’<\/strong> i.e. ‘what a load of rubbish’?”.
\nI’m afraid not!<\/p>\n

Let’s begin with the official explanation of the expression ‘che palle’<\/strong> from the ‘Bible’ of the Italian language <\/b><\/u>il Vocabolario Treccani<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span>:<\/p>\n

… farsi due p.<\/em> (cos\u00ec)<\/em> =<\/em> annoiarsi terribilmente o fare molta fatica, e come esclam.: che palle!<\/em> (anche, due palle!<\/em>), per indicare noia, fastidio, insofferenza.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Those three final words sum up nicely what one feels when one uses the expression ‘che palle’<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

noia<\/strong> = boredom
\nfastidio<\/strong> = annoyance
\ninsofferenza<\/strong> = intolerance<\/p>\n

Notice that at the beginning of the Treccani explanation we find … farsi due p.<\/strong><\/em> (cos\u00ec)<\/em><\/strong> which, literally translated, means something like ‘make oneself two balls’ (like this). Obviously, the literal translation is nonsensical. So let me give you a practical examples of its usage:<\/p>\n

Giorgio si lamenta sempre per i problemi con sua moglie … dopo un po’ mi fa venire due palle cos\u00ec!<\/strong>
\nGiorgio always moans about the problems he has with his wife … after a while it gets really boring\/annoying\/intolerable.<\/p>\n

Why, you may ask, does the expression finish with the word ‘cos\u00ec’<\/strong> (like this)? Well, that’s because ‘che palle’<\/strong>, ‘farsi due palle cos\u00ec’<\/strong>, ‘che rottura di coglioni’<\/strong> (a variation on palle<\/strong>) and so on have their own particular gesture.<\/p>\n

Now, as you all know, Italian gestures are a vast subject in their own right, but I’ve managed to find a great video that perfectly illustrates the ‘che palle’<\/strong>gesture. Pay attention at 3:05.<\/p>\n