{"id":274,"date":"2010-02-25T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=274"},"modified":"2014-09-24T08:00:48","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T08:00:48","slug":"gesture-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/gesture-of-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Gesture of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my blog \u2018La Dolce Lingua part 2′, I wrote \u201cwhen we Italians speak we like to use our whole body, not just our mouths!\u201d<\/em> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

This, in fact,<\/span> is an aspect of our language, indeed our culture, that is very hard to transmit in writing. However, I like a challenge, so I will now attempt the impossible by trying to teach you a few essential gesti<\/strong> (gestures) which, if you spend a bit of time here in Italy you will see used frequently.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly though, as I always try to keep my blogs polite I will need to explain a common euphemism: \u2018cavolo!\u2019<\/strong> (cabbage). <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Cavolo is used in such expressions as \u2018io non so un cavolo di niente\u2019<\/strong> (I don\u2019t know cabbage nothing), \u2018che cavolo dici?\u2019<\/strong> (what the cabbage are you talking about?), or \u2018che cavolo vuoi?\u2019<\/strong> (what the cabbage do you want?). Here cavolo<\/strong> is a euphemism for an extremely common parolaccia<\/strong> (swear word) which also begins with \u2018ca\u2019 and ends with \u2018o\u2019 but has a couple of z\u2019s in the middle. I\u2019m sure a quick search on the internet will give you this wonderfully expressive word!<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Allora<\/strong>!, here is today\u2019s gesture: Using only one hand put all of the fingertips and thumb together so that your hand makes a kind of conical shape. Hold the conical hand in front of your body with the palm facing you and with the elbow and wrist bent to form an arc shape. Make sure you have the closed fingertips pointing towards you. Now move the the point of the \u2018cone\u2019 towards and away from your body using mainly the wrist but also a bit of arm movement. It may help if you imagine that your hand is a swan’s head with its pointed beak, and your arm is its neck, then imagine that the swan is pecking at but not touching your body. This gesture is the non verbal way of expressing \u2018che cavolo vuoi?\u2019<\/strong> or \u2018che cavalo dici?\u2019<\/strong>, and depending on the seriousness of the situation the hand will be higher or lower, and the movement stronger or softer.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

For example: Imagine that my friend Michele is telling me that a new and rather senseless regulation has just been passed (of course it would never really happen in Italy!) which will mean that he, as a negoziante<\/strong> (shopkeeper) will be out of pocket. When Michele explains to me the stupidity of this new regulation he uses the gesture described above but with his hand held just below his chest making a relatively gentle movement. In this case the gesture is fairly impersonal, it\u2019s not directed at me but expresses his annoyance with the situation and the stupidity of the people who have devised the new regulation.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

If on the other hand I was the bureaucrat who had devised this insidious new rule to rob Michele of his hard earned soldi<\/strong> (money), and I had come into his shop to \u2018rompergli le scatole\u2019<\/strong> (break his \u2018boxes\u2019 \u2013 yet another euphemism) he may raise his hand up to face level and make a very emphatic gesture with wrist and arm in order to express \u2018ma che cavolo vuoi\u2019 <\/strong>in no uncertain terms!<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Ciao Michele, grazie per il tuo aiuto con questo blog.<\/strong> <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my blog \u2018La Dolce Lingua part 2′, I wrote \u201cwhen we Italians speak we like to use our whole body, not just our mouths!\u201d This, in fact, is an aspect of our language, indeed our culture, that is very hard to transmit in writing. However, I like a challenge, so I will now attempt…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,619],"tags":[351068],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-italian-language","tag-italian-gestures"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7264,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/7264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}