Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Everyday Italian!

So I found this interesting and I thought I would pass it along here. Lately I've been trying to learn a little Italian just for fun, and I found a few fun words and expressions that have edged their way into the English language (at least American English, as far as I know.) Here are those expressions:

Ciao - pronounced "Chow"
This one is obviously Italian but people do say it and mean "Goodbye." Interestingly enough, it also means "Hello" in Italian.

Presto - pronounced as it looks "Press-toe"
In English, we hear this in a magic act, "And presto-chango, the bunny has disappeared!" In Italian it means "See you soon," which is a funny thing to say to something that is about to disappear.

Squattrinato - pronounced "Skwa-tree-Nah-toe"
The exact Italian phrase might be "Sto squattrinato" or in English, "I'm broke." To the average American you might hear someone ask, "Could I borrow a few bucks?" and their response would be "I got squatt!"

So now you know a few Italian words that you likely already knew.

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