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Tag Archives: Italian language
Learn Italian in Song: Come Mai
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Italian SMS-Speak
“Texting” – sending text messages via cellphone – has been popular in Italy far longer than in the US, in part because it’s cheaper than calling. When I can’t reach someone by email, I use SMS for non-urgent communications – it’s less intrusive than a call, and I have a phobia of disturbing people.
Italian kids in particular text a lot, though many have now moved on to instant messaging on their computers. They’ve developed a shorthand which is useful for both; I give some examples here (and will expand on them as I run into new ones, particularly with illustrations).
The graffito on the side of the building pictured above reads: Cecy TV1MDB… Fabio.
TVB – ti voglio bene – “I love you” – predates cellphones; I remember my daughter and her middle school friends scribbling it on each others’ school diaries and backpacks. (The advertising applications for TVBLOB are instantly apparent.)
The graffito above is another variant: 1 is (obviously) uno, the number one, but it’s also the article “a” or “an”. So this reads: Ti voglio un mondo di bene – “I desire for you a world of good,” or “I love you a lot.”
Cecy, BTW, pronounced CHAY-chee, is a nickname for Cecilia [cheh-CHEE-lee-ah].
+ is of course the mathematical plus sign, pronounced piu’ [PYOO]. But piu’ also means “more”. So the ugly sentiment expressed above is “more cops dead.”
At the bottom right is the VV symbol meaning “hurray for!” – figa (cunt). (A rather pleasanter sentiment.)
Other Abbreviations
(For which I don’t yet have photos.)
6 – sei means “six” or “you are”.
cmq – comunque – anyway
k – The letter k is pronounced kappa in Italian (the name is Greek because k is not actually part of the Italian alphabet). But Italian kids, knowing that in English it’s pronounced [kay], use it as shorthand for -che, a common Italian syllable.
x – This is not the letter x, but the multiplication symbol, called per in Italian. The word per is also a preposition meaning “for”, and, again, a frequently-used syllable in Italian.
So: xk = perché – “why?” – a savings of four letters when entering text!
what are some more Italian SMS abbreviations I’m missing?
Old-Fashioned Italian Baby Names
Above: a monument to Varenna’s WWI dead. If your last name was Pensa (“think”), why would you name your child Innocente? Monuments like this also give clues to names which were once common but have now fallen out of popularity: Gaspare [GAHS-pah-ray], Eliseo [ell-lee-ZAY-oh], Oreste [oh-RES-tay], Sigismundo [sih-jiss-MOON-doh] and Corrado [cor-RAH-doh] are very rare today.
War memorial in Lecco: more names which are now rare (and might be considered funny):
- Ermenegildo [air-may-nay-JEEL-doh]
- Eufrasio [ey-you-FRAZ-ee-oh]
- Mansueto [mahn-SWAY-toh] (“gentle”)
- Fortunato [for-too-NAH-toh] (“lucky,” but this may also be the name of a saint)
- Onorato [on-oh-RAH-toh] (“honored”)
- Severino [seh-veh-REEN-oh] (a saint)
- Domizio [doh-MEET-zee-oh] (Roman name)
- Calimero [cah-lee-MARE-oh]
- Arnaldo [are-NAHL-doh]
Wilma [VILL-mah] and Giuseppina [jews-ep-PEEN-ah] would be considered old-fashioned. Carolina [car-oh-LEAN-ah] is still current (my daughter has been at school with at least one Carolina).
- Ines [ee-NESS]
- Gioconda [joe-COND-ah] – In Italy, an alternate name for the Mona Lisa is La Gioconda. Note that this one was the widow of a Mr. Orfeo [or-FAY-oh] (Orpheus).
- Adalgisa [ah-DAHL-jizz-ah] – Very old-fashioned.
- Egidia [eh-GEE-dee-uh]
- Rosetta [Rose-ETT-uh]
- Cherubina [care-oo-BEAN-uh] – “Little Cherub” – Huh?!?
- Chiarina [kya-REE-nah] – unusual, but cute. A diminutive of Chiara [KYA-rah], meaning clear, transparent, or light.
- Achille = Achilles
- Valentino – well, you all know that one
- Ermanno – no less than two of them! = Herman
- Carmelo – very current in southern Italy
- Gottardo [go-TAR-doh] – a saint with an important Alpine mountain pass and two major highway tunnels named after him.
- Cesare [CHAY-za-ray] – Caesar. You knew that, right?
- Oreste [o-RESS-tay] – the Greek Orestes
- Edoardo Enrico – It’s unusual for an Italian to use a middle name in any context. My husband, for example, has several which may be on his baptismal certificate, but do not exist on his birth certificate or any other legal document, and which are never used. Beyond that, Edoardo [eh-doh-AR-do] and Enrico are both names that are not unusual, but not overly common, either.
- Piera – [pee-AIR-a or PYAIR-ah] Female version of Piero, of course.
- Candida [CAHN-did-ah] – Carries the connotation “white” or “pure.”
- Armanda [ar-MAHN-dah]
- Quinto [KWEEN-toh] – “Fifth”.
In some families it seems to have been the practice, dating back to Classical Rome, to give your children numbers rather than names: Primo, Secundo, etc. Or, having grown tired of trying to find names after the first few, the parents seem to take this easy way out. - Pierluigi – Pier is often used as a sort of adjunct to other (male) names: Piergiorgio, Pierluigi, even Piermaria (still a male name by virtue of the Pier on the front).
Anything you can add on the lore and history of old-fashioned Italian names will be welcome!
Related: Italian Baby Names I Happen to Like
Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 8
upper left: The animator becomes a profession
Luna Ross effect: boom in sign-ups for sailing school
yellow sign: Text books: elementary, middle school, high school – for all the schools
lower left: Free: Map of Engadina [a mountain] No. 1
Rivers of Cocaine from the Balkans
Local health authority in alarm: tuberculosis returns
lower center: Free: Map of Engadina [a mountain] No. 1
The height of Golfari, the hells of [Ms.] Brambilla
Loan-sharking: first confessions
lower right: Carabinieri: “More thefts and robberies”
Germanedo – streets and cleaning – the neighborhood feels neglected
Insert: Housing Market
Lecco goes to the final and makes the fans dream
In Barro [a local mountain] auto in flames – driver in very serious condition
right: Schools: Historic principals and directors retire
Football: Lecco team wins and embarks on the final
