Comments on: Italian Animal Idioms

By: Milan

Milan — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:22:28 +0000

you forgot the wolf! so much of italian culture is based around il lupo! in boca lupo – good luck and all that!

By: fax from computer

fax from computer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:11:51 +0000

Interesting read, I never though about that since I never had a dog when I was in Italy.

By: Jasmine

Jasmine — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:07:06 +0000

I tried to signup for your RSS feed but it didn’t work. How can I do this?

By: Hypnosis Guy

Hypnosis Guy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:43:37 +0000

What an absolutely fascinating read. Culture reflects beautifully in our metaphoric language

By: webmaster

webmaster — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:13:05 +0000

Hmm, never thought of that, I guess because we never had any dogs or cats in Italy, and turtles don’t come when called! For cats people call “Micio micio micio” (pussy pussy pussy – not the rude kind) and make kissy noises. Dogs… I’ve never heard an equivalent of “here boy/girl.” “Vieni qui [name of dog]” I guess.

By: kelly

kelly — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:07:07 +0000

This thread is ancient, but I’ll post this here anyway. How do you call a cat or dog in Italian? I mean, in English dogs get “Here, girl!, or Here boy!”, while cats usually just get “Here, kitty, kitty!”.

By: pia

pia — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:36:12 +0000

How about “porco pulito non fu mai grasso?”

It is interesting to consider that in Anglo-Saxon countries the cat has 9 lives but in Italy only 7!
A presto

By: Roberta

Roberta — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:05:42 +0000

A couple more with cats:
“Via la gatta i topi ballano” (literally: when the cat is away, mice get dancing: meaning: when the boss is away people ignore the rules)
“Gatta ci cova” (literally: a cat is brooding; meaning: there is something fishy going on)
I wonder why they are all with she-cats…

And with other animals:
“Sputa il rospo” (lit: spit out the toad; meaning: spit it out, spill the beans)

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:13:48 +0000

I heard one the other day. “E’ piu’ pigre che ventiquattro mucche” (He’s) more lazy than 24 cows. I liked it.

By: Qt

Qt — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:53:50 +0000

Haven’t noriced it yesterday, but your form fot the “gatto” and “lardo” one is quite longer than the usual one. the one i usually ear, with also the gender change is “Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino”. The meaning is the same as the other form.
Ciao!