Friday, February 27, 2009

Famous Italian Sayings (1)

1. "Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino"

The cat goes so often to the lard that it leaves its footprint.

La spiegazione: Tanto desideri qualcosa che può essere negativo o positivo, tanto ne subisci le conseguenze.

The explanation: You desire something so much which can be negative or positive, you suffer much the consequence.



My Italian is getting rusty due to lack of practice as I lose interest and hardly can find time for virtual chat. So I logged into Unilang.org forum and asked Italians there to teach me some famous Italian sayings. That was the first one given to me. I worked out the translation and quoted them as verbatim as I could.


2."Meglio un uovo oggi che una gallina domani."

An egg today is better than a chicken tomorrow.

La spiegazione: E' l'equivalente del proverbio "chi si accontenta gode", ovvero, che è meglio qualcosa di buono oggi che qualcosa di migliore domani che è probabile che non arrivi, comunque.

It's synonymous with the proverb " One who is contented enjoys", to be more precise, it is better ( to have ) something nice today than something better tomorrow which probably never materializes, however.


3."Pagare sull'unghia"

Pay on the nail

La spiegazione: Pagare subito e in contanti

Pay immediately in cash.


Ah...This is a good one to demand money from stingy Italians. Many of them are.

*Should ask Ann Hathaway

4. "Una tira l'altra"

One ( cherry ) pulls another one.

La spiegazione: Detto di cosa particolarmente piacevole - spesso del cibo - che è particolarmente gradita sino a dare quasi dipendenza (a me lo fa la cioccolata ad esempio).

I talked about particularly pleasant thing - usually food - that is particularly welcomed until it is almost addictive. ( to me, that's chocolate for example )

By the time I read to this part, I have noticed a pattern. But I'd better look at the next commentator to confirm my itchy suspicion...


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