{"id":6392,"date":"2014-06-28T20:05:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-28T20:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=6392"},"modified":"2014-07-01T14:06:40","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T14:06:40","slug":"boh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/boh\/","title":{"rendered":"Boh!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of days ago a reader asked me: is "Boh" the Italian equivalent of "Doh!"?<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, according to the Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana Treccani, the exclamation \u2018boh!\u2019 expresses: uncertainty, e.g. \u2018boh! non lo so proprio\u2019<\/strong> (\u2026 I don\u2019t really know); incredulity, e.g. \u2018boh! se lo dice lui, sar\u00e0 vero\u2019<\/strong> (\u2026 if he says so, it must be true); or disapproval, e.g. \u2018boh! i giovani di oggi sono cos\u00ec maleducati!\u2019<\/strong> (\u2026 Today\u2019s youngsters are so badly behaved!). You\u2019ll also commonly hear the word \u2018mah!\u2019 used to express uncertainty or incredulity. <\/p>\n

Now, every time I hear this simple little word, I can\u2019t avoid thinking back to my childhood and to a classic school joke that me and my friend Donatella used to enjoy so much:<\/p>\n

Un bambino di dieci anni deve affrontare l\u2019esame di fine anno di quinta elementare. Questo bambino non \u00e8 un bravo studente, anzi \u00e8 proprio un asino, ma \u00e8 il figlio del sindaco della citt\u00e0. Perci\u00f2 il preside della scuola si raccomanda col commissario d\u2019esame di promuovere lo studente asino.
<\/strong>A ten year old boy has to face his end of primary school exams. This boy isn\u2019t a clever student, in fact he\u2019s actually a donkey, but he\u2019s the son of the town\u2019s mayor. Therefore the head teacher begs the examiner to make the stupid student pass the exam.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"Studente_asino\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

A photo from the good old days before the term \u2018special needs\u2019 existed.
N.B. the chick peas on the floor which the \u2018stupid\u2019 student had to kneel on! (photo anon. from <\/strong>nonciclopedia.wikia.com<\/font><\/strong><\/a><\/font>)<\/strong><\/font><\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Il commissario allora comincia l\u2019esame orale con una domanda molto semplice di storia: \u201cQuanti erano i re di Roma?\u201d
<\/strong>So the examiner begins the oral exam with a very simple history question: \u201cHow many kings of Rome were there?\u201d (N.B. all Italian children know the answer to this) <\/p>\n

Studente: \u201cBoh!\u201d
<\/strong>Student: "Doh!"<\/p>\n

Commissario: \u201cPassiamo alla matematica: quanto fa due per due?\u201d
<\/strong>Examiner: \u201cLet\u2019s move on to Mathematics: how much is two times two?\u201d<\/p>\n

Studente: \u201cBoh!\u201d
<\/strong>Student: "Doh!"<\/p>\n

Commissario: \u201cVediamo se conosci la geografia: qual \u00e8 la capitale dell\u2019Italia?\u201d
<\/strong>Examiner: \u201cLet\u2019s see if you know your geography: what is the capital of Italy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Studente: \u201cBoh!\u201d
<\/strong>Student: "Doh!"<\/p>\n

Il commissario, disperato, ha finalmente una illuminazione: \u201cQuesta non la puoi sbagliare: qual \u00e8 la sigla della citt\u00e0 di Bologna?\u201d
<\/strong>The desperate examiner finally has a brilliant idea: \u201cYou can\u2019t get this one wrong: what\u2019s the abbreviation of the city of Bologna?\u201d (Bo<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Studente: \u201cMah!\u201d
<\/strong>Student: \u201cMah!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"targa-motobi\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

At one time Italian car number plates used to contain the sigla (abbreviation) of the city where the vehicle was registered. The example above is of an old Bologna number plate. (photo: anon.)<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

At this point me and my friend Donatella would burst in fits of laughter. However, at the age of eight it made us feel so well read and \u2018intellectual\u2019 compared to the stupid ten years old boy in the joke, and so we used to embellish the story in order to show off our knowledge, e.g. \u201cwhat is the highest mountain in Europe? What is seven times eight?\u201d and so on. <\/p>\n

This reminds me of one of Geoff\u2019s favourite quotes:
\u201cIt is so pleasant to come across people more stupid than ourselves. We love them at once for being so.\u201d
Jerome K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow <\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So dear readers: \u201cHow many kings of Rome were there?\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

A couple of days ago a reader asked me: is "Boh" the Italian equivalent of "Doh!"? Well, according to the Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana Treccani, the exclamation \u2018boh!\u2019 expresses: uncertainty, e.g. \u2018boh! non lo so proprio\u2019 (\u2026 I don\u2019t really know); incredulity, e.g. \u2018boh! se lo dice lui, sar\u00e0 vero\u2019 (\u2026 if he says so…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,619],"tags":[351048,351047],"class_list":["post-6392","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-italian-language","tag-italian-number-plates","tag-italian-school-jokes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6392","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=6392"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6410,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6392\/revisions\/6410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}