{"id":592,"date":"2011-01-24T18:59:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T18:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=592"},"modified":"2011-01-24T18:59:35","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T18:59:35","slug":"la-conta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/la-conta\/","title":{"rendered":"La Conta"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few evenings ago, while having dinner with my friends Annalisa e Claudio, the conversation moved onto the topic of the traditional games which we used to play as children such as nascondino<\/strong> (hide-and-seek), chiapparello<\/strong> (catch\/tag), mosca cieca <\/strong>(blind man’s  buff), girotondo <\/strong>(ring-a-ring-o’-roses), etc. We all agreed that the fun was not limited to the game itself but started well before with la conta<\/strong>, the meaningless rhyme which children chant in order to choose who will be the one who has to look for the others in nascondino<\/strong>, or who will be "it" in chiapparello, <\/strong>and so on. We had a bit of difficulty trying to remember exactly how the rhymes went after so many years, but between the three of us we were able to piece together the following two conte<\/strong>. As is often the case with rhymes created by children, they involve the use of "naughty" words and images!<\/font><\/p>\n

This is what we used to do: the children who wanted to play stood in a circle, and one child pointed at each person in turn whilst chanting la conta<\/strong>. The two counts below are chanted in 4\/4 time, that is each line has four beats, and each beat corresponds to one person being counted. I’ve highlighted in red the syllables where the beat falls in the first conta<\/strong>: <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Am<\/font>baraba<\/font>c<\/font>cici<\/font>cocc\u00f2<\/font><\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nAmbarabaccicicocc\u00f2<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tre<\/font> galli<\/font>ne sul<\/font> com\u00f2<\/font><\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nThree hens on the chest of drawers<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Che<\/font> face<\/font>vano<\/font> all<\/font>‘amo<\/font>re<\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nThat were making love<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Con<\/font> la fi<\/font>glia del<\/font> dotto<\/font>re<\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nTo the doctor’s daughter<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Il<\/font> dotto<\/font>re si am<\/font>mal\u00f2<\/font><\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nThe doctor fell ill<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Am–<\/font>ba–<\/font>ra–<\/font>bac–<\/font>ci–<\/font>ci–<\/font>coc–<\/font>c\u00f2<\/font>!<\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nAm-ba-ra-bac-ci-ci-coc-c\u00f2!<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Of course, when chanting the closing Am-ba-ra-bac-ci-ci-coc-c\u00f2 <\/strong>we would slow down as much as possible to create suspense!<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

N.B. There are two common variations to this popular conta<\/strong>: When my mother was a child she used to chant "anghing\u00f2"<\/strong> (which only has a count of three) instead of "ambarabaccicicocc\u00f2"<\/strong>, and some children used to say tre civette<\/strong> (three owls) instead of tre galline <\/strong>(three hens).<\/font><\/p>\n

I must admit that the second conta<\/strong> was my favorite one because it contains a very naughty image!<\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sotto il ponte di Baracca<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nUnder Baracca’s bridge<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
C’\u00e8 Gigin che fa la cacca<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nThere is Gigin doing a pooh<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La fa dura dura dura<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nHe does it very very hard<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Il dottore la misura<\/strong> <\/font><\/td>\nThe doctor measures it<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La misura trentatr\u00e8<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nHe measures it thirty three<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A star sotto tocca a te!<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nIt’s your turn to be "it"!<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

My mother knew a slightly different variations when she was a child:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sotto il ponte di Baracca<\/font><\/strong><\/td>\nUnder Baracca’s bridge<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
C’\u00e8 Ninin che fa la cacca<\/strong><\/td>\nThere is Ninin doing a pooh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La fa gialla rossa e bleu<\/strong><\/td>\nHe does it yellow red and bleu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A star sotto tocca a te!<\/strong><\/td>\nIt’s your turn to be "it"!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

Buon divertimento! <\/strong><\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

Have fun!<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few evenings ago, while having dinner with my friends Annalisa e Claudio, the conversation moved onto the topic of the traditional games which we used to play as children such as nascondino (hide-and-seek), chiapparello (catch\/tag), mosca cieca (blind man’s  buff), girotondo (ring-a-ring-o’-roses), etc. We all agreed that the fun was not limited to the…<\/p>\n

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