Comments for Countries Beginning with I

Comment on Old-Fashioned Italian Baby Names by Carmine De Lucia

Carmine De Lucia — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:17:00 +0000

Im trying to decypher my great grandmothers first name as it appears on a ships passenger list, dated 1908. All I can make out from the ship’s pursers handwriting is A—arasia. Its very possible that there are only 2 letters missing rather than 3. She was from Monteforte, in Campania. Ive looked at several lists of names and a few appear to end in “rasia” Does anyone have any ideas. Also she was not a passenger, but rather, was only listed as a next of kin by my grandfather. She remained in Italy.

Comment on Italy’s Postal Embarrassment by Deirdre Straughan

Deirdre Straughan — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:38:08 +0000

Just a note: the Vatican is a different country from Italy, and has no legal basis to say anything about Italy’s morals. The separation of church and state is mandated in Italy’s constitution much as it is in the US.

Comment on Italy’s Postal Embarrassment by s e harvey

s e harvey — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:44:02 +0000

Iv’e lived here for 6 years and it is truly like being in a third world country…….something I ordered from the USA last year was sent back. I was told the address was wrong, no, the courier couldn’t find me, we are not off the map, they just couldn’t be asked to reach me. If the item made it past the thieving sods at dispatch it must have been thrown at anyone with a set of wheels but no inclination to do the job!
I have had to pay more postage to have it resent. A trace showed it had reached Italy again but the bad weather meant the van couldn’t get through. Now the roads are clear I live in hope, I’m asking the post lady to investigate for me. I keep her sweet with a Xmas present each year so it may turn up yet. All it is is some large size tops for my holiday, first for last year now for this. I have yet to see any Italian women my size whose husbands may work for the postal service here.
What with a corrupt government, central and local, a moribund Vatican which does nothing about the country’s lack of moral direction and the ‘every man for himself’ attitude I despair of the place…..We are selling up as soon as we can, can’t stand it any longer, lovely scenery or not.

Comment on Italian Surnames: The Funny, Surprising, and Just Plain Weird by Roberto Goretti

Roberto Goretti — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:50:00 +0000

A good source of information on the origin of several Italian last names is here (in Italian only) :
http://www.cognomiitaliani.org/cognomi/index.html

In the following website you can enter a last name (cognome) and it will show the concentration of the last name on the map. Generally the highest concentration will give you an idea from where in Italy the last name originated. Although you’ll find high concentrations in both Milan and Rome of many last names, since those are the largest metro areas in Italy and many immigrated there. Obviously very common last names (such as Esposito, Rossi, Bianchi) will show all over the place:

http://gens.labo.net/it/cognomi/

Comment on Italian High Schools by Ray

Ray — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:47:53 +0000

Thank you so much for this! I’m an American in freshman year. Most of my family is from Italy, but unfortunately not as traditional as I wish I talked to my parents about movin to Italy and they said only if they had a really good schools system setup. Needless to say they were happy about this thanks again!!

Comment on Learn Italian in Song: Parco Sempione by Deirdre Straughan

Deirdre Straughan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:41:25 +0000

Ah, good point. Fatto as in fattone.

Comment on Learn Italian in Song: Parco Sempione by Filippo

Filippo — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:14:30 +0000

Bonghi: questo fatto mi turba perché suona di merda, Bongos: this fact disturbs me because he plays like shit

It can also be translated as Bongos: This Drug user disturbs me…

Fatto means both Fact and Drug user (It’s another slang word)

Comment on Italian Slang and Swearwords by ParmaGee

ParmaGee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:57:08 +0000

TO the woman who wants to know what “Git-a-pots-ima” means : it sounds like your grandmother (nonna) was saying “That’s crazy….” Che pazza ( my mother is from Naples and we heard the most awful hard core insults growing up)

Comment on YouTube Transcription FAIL by Brendan's blog » Performance Analysis talk at SCALE10x

Brendan's blog » Performance Analysis talk at SCALE10x — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:47:46 +0000

[...] YouTube’s experimental audio transcription doesn’t handle my accent very well. See the full transcript from when the videos were first [...]

Comment on Learn Italian in Song: Tu Vuo’ Fa’ L’Americano by Fakeid Salman Mohammad

Fakeid Salman Mohammad — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:07:58 +0000

Tu vuo’ fa’ l’americano
Literally: You want to be the American
Meaning: You’re an American wannabe

Come te po’ capi’ chi te vo’ bbene
si tu lle parle miezzo americano?
quanno se fa ll’ammore sott’ ‘a luna
comme te vene ‘ncapa ‘e di’ “I love you”?

How can the one who loves you (your girl friend) understand you
If you speak to her in Half-american
When you make love under the moon (When there’s love to be made, under the moon)
How does it occur to you to say “I love you”? ( Where do you get off saying “I love you”?)