Monthly Archives: December 2001

Italy by Numbers: Italiani gente allegra?

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52% Italians feel ‘lost’ or ‘insecure’
14% feel depressed
9% feel happy

So much for the legendary sunny disposition of Italians. According to a poll of 938 inhabitants of the Bel Paese conducted by a psychology magazine, only one in ten are content. The survey, however, appears to confirm that Italians are happiest when at home with family. Sunday nights, with the school and work looming the next day, were deemed the low point of the week and only 10% said they felt unhappy or sad during the holidays. To combat the blues, 53% spend time on self improvement, including sports and meditation. The most ‘unhappy’ cities are business hubs in the North– Milan, Turin and Genoa.

Priest Holds Weekly Exorcism Mass For ”Bedeviled” Village

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"The devil is among us here, I have no doubt," said parish priest Father Sergio Bagliani. This man of the cloth is convinced that Satan has possessed at least two families…

Although the tranquil town of Gravellona Pavia (Lombardy), population 2,100, seems an unlikely place for breeding Beelzebub, Bagliani started a weekly “purification mass” against what he called an “infestation.” The service drew hundreds, enough to move from the parish church of S. Maria Assunta to nearby sanctuary Madonna delle Bozzole.
One of the presumably possessed members of the community, housewife and mother of four Giulia Davide, has a prosaic explanation for recent events. "I suffer from low blood pressure and had a spell while the priest was blessing our house," said Davide. "The priest got a bit spooked and nearly drowned me in Holy water. That’s it."
Father Bagliani could not be reached for comment, the sacristan said he is on a spiritual retreat. Newspapers reports claimed the priest was instead getting a good talking to by the Bishop of Novara.

Vasco Rossi: Italian Music, or Else

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"Italian pop music should be considered culture instead of vulgar merchandise," sentenced rocker Vasco Rossi, apparently without irony,

while collecting three statues from the national federation for record companies (Fimi) at the Italian Music Awards The middle-aged rocker from Modena, known for attention-getting antics, changed sides on a thorny political issue–a proposed law for the ‘protection’ of indigenous music which would require radio stations and music television channels to play at least 60% Italian music.
Rossi’s endorsement of 14-point proposal n.756, which he’d previously called "weird," may help move it out of the House of Representatives, where it has languished since July 2001.
Baseball hat on backwards and with visible stubble, Vasco collected kudos for latest album "Stupido Hotel" and parted with the statement, "We need a law that really helps pop music, like we have for the film industry and the opera." It will be hard to eradicate foreign pop music from Italy–even the two-year old awards program has an English name.

Web wise: Dec. 3-Dec. 10

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Italy’s Simplification Day? La Scala Opens: take the Othello jealousy quiz?New Encyclopedia portal knows it all? Berlusconi’s rebel daughter at Debutante ball

 

Simplification day
Italy’s intricate financial/tax system has long been the butt of many jokes and this effort by the government to boost simplicity isn’t likely to help matters. Crowned “simplification day” in English, the Italian explanation is: “Convegno sulla semplificazione degli adempimenti.”
www.tesoro.it

La Scala opens: Take the Othello jealousy quiz
The traditional opening of the Scala on Dec. 7 with Verdi’s "Othello" will no doubt be a memorable one–the historic opera house close will for three season spruce up and performances move to the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, in the Bicocca area of Milan. (The official web site www.teatroallascala.org will still function as a virtual ticket office..)
Seats for opening night are an endangered species, but get into the spirit with the special jealousy quiz which reveals your "Othello quotient."
http://news2000.iol.it/scala/index_test.jhtml

Berlusconi’s Rebel Daughter-Deb
Barbara Berlusconi made her official entrance into genteel society Saturday night at the debutante’s ball in Paris–making history as the first tulle-covered Cinderella with a pierced tongue.
www.tg5.it

New Encyclopedia portal knows it all
Art, medicine, geography, music and entertainment and science are the main categories for this new portal which pools together publisher DeAgostini’s considerable resources…On a concrete level, if you want to brush up on Italian soccer, but can’t tell Zoff from Zidane, this is a good starting point. In Italian only, it’s especially useful for definitions and historical explanations–the media section, for example, puts together basic industry terms in one place…The site also offers more comprehensive reference materials–for about a $100 a year subscription–but the free info on offer looks like plenty.
www.sapere.it

Gifts, what to say when it all goes wrong

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zoomata.com staff wishes you a joyous holiday season–and hopes that no part of this dialogue is useful.
One quick, no-fail, supercheap gift idea for the Italophile on your list: dried lentils. Eaten in the New Year period, they’re said to bring money….Auguroni!
And, if your New Year’s Resolution is to improve your command of the language, try Italian in 10 Minutes a Day

 

Italian English
Ma che bel pensiero! What a lovely gift!
"Pensiero" lit. "thought" is also used to describe small gifts, or lack of reciprocity…"non ti preoccupare, il mio è solo un pensierino."

Non avresti dovuto!

 

 You shouldn’t have!

Forse è solo un filino (grande) (verde) (orrido)

 

 It’s just a tiny bit (big) (green) (awful)

Quasi quasi provo a riportarlo indietro…

 

 Maybe I should take it back..

per vedere se ne hanno altri

 

 and see if they have any left
che mi dici, hai ancora lo scontrino?

what do you say–do you still have the receipt?

(Italian stores usually require the receipt for returns–lo scontrino–better ask for it immediately)

E’ davvero un peccato, si capisce che erano andati a ruba..

 

 It’s really a shame, apparently they were really popular…

così mi sono accontentato di questo.

 so I had to settle for this instead..