Hi-I'd like some help with Italian slang

Well, I know what "cazzo" means.

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contrex wrote:

Well, I know what "cazzo" means.

Hi-okay what's a cazzo?

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JGoldman10 wrote:

contrex wrote:
Well, I know what "cazzo" means.

Hi-okay what's a cazzo?

It is a slang term for the penis. It would roughly translate as "cock", or "prick". Like in English, it can also be an insult: calling someone a cazzo is like calling them a "prick" or "dick" in English, and I'll leave you to work out what a "testa di cazzo" is.

"Minchia" is another Italian word, which is more or the the female counterpart of "cazzo".

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Actually, the word most used is not minchia, but figa.

My neighbor in Modena, Mr. Borghesi, told me that his five year old son came back from pre-school one day, and was angry at him.
"Why", said Mr. Borghesi.
"You lied to me!", cried Maxi
"When?"
"You told me men have a penis and women have a vagina, and they're actually called cazzo and figa!".

A fun word is "fighino" (pussyish), which can be roughly translated into "fancy". While "sfigato" (pussyless) means something like "unlucky".
According to some other students, another Mexican and I were "i messicani sfigati", while the other Mexican, who wore tweed jackets and played the piano, was "il messicano fighino".

"Che sfiga!", means something like "tough luck!".

Nice memories.

A Tuscanian girl at school (Tuscans are reknown for being foul-mouthed) once said: "Puttana Eva, Madonna buccaiola!".
I'll leave that phrase for a through research.

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reply to contrex

contrex wrote:

JGoldman10 wrote:
contrex wrote:
Well, I know what "cazzo" means.

Hi-okay what's a cazzo?

It is a slang term for the penis. It would roughly translate as "cock", or "prick". Like in English, it can also be an insult: calling someone a cazzo is like calling them a "prick" or "dick" in English, and I'll leave you to work out what a "testa di cazzo" is.

"Minchia" is another Italian word, which is more or the the female counterpart of "cazzo".

Okay-I'd like to know what are Italian slang temrs for:

tough guy
tough girl
tomboy
guy prone to fighting
girl prone to fighting
woman prone to fighting
powerfully-built female
powerfully-built male
gangster
punk
hoodlum
cool guy
cool girl
delinqunet boy
delinquent girl?

I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

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... and many Italians would be somehow shocked if they saw American baseball crowds carrying a broom and yelling "Sweep!".

It would be hard for Italian broadcasters to translate that. Perhaps that's why baseball isn't that popular in Italy.

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Re: reply to contrex

JGoldman10 wrote:

I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

Never ever heard them in several years in Italy.

powerfully-built man: un marcantonio

gangster: mafioso, gangster

cool guy: uno in gamba
cool girl: una in gamba

This is national Italian slang: the type of slang you can read in the papers.

But you must notice that most Italian slang is regional.

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Re: reply to contrex

fbaezer wrote:

JGoldman10 wrote:

I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

Never ever heard them in several years in Italy.

powerfully-built man: un marcantonio

gangster: mafioso, gangster

cool guy: uno in gamba
cool girl: una in gamba

This is national Italian slang: the type of slang you can read in the papers.

But you must notice that most Italian slang is regional.

Thank you. What slangs do they use for a "tough girl/chick"? I know "gina" is one term.

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HI, everybody.

Italian slang often changes with region, some words have become more or less universal, anyway...

I'm from Rome, so I'll give you my point of view, naturally....

tough guy
Uno tosto

tough girl
Una tosta

tomboy
Can't understand this one, sorry Confused

guy prone to fighting
Un guerriero or un gladiatore (un violento, also, but in a bad sense)

girl prone to fighting
Una guerriera or una gladiatrice (una violenta, also, but in a bad sense)

woman prone to fighting
same as girl...

powerfully-built female
Una matrona, una botte (very, very, very unkind...)

powerfully-built male
un armadio, una botte (very, very, very unkind...)

gangster
gangster (seriusly, just as in English)

punk
punk

hoodlum
I don't understand this

cool guy
Un figo

cool girl
una figa

delinquent boy
un criminale (or delinquente)

delinquent girl
una criminale (una delinquente)

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Re: reply to contrex

JGoldman10 wrote:

I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

JGoldman10 wrote:

Thank you. What slangs do they use for a "tough girl/chick"? I know "gina" is one term.

"guido, bruno, and goomba... Gina"? Who told you that? I've never heard none of those in that sense...

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reply to Raphillon

Raphillon wrote:

HI, everybody.

Italian slang often changes with region, some words have become more or less universal, anyway...

I'm from Rome, so I'll give you my point of view, naturally....

tough guy
Uno tosto

tough girl
Una tosta

tomboy
Can't understand this one, sorry

guy prone to fighting
Un guerriero or un gladiatore (un violento, also, but in a bad sense)

girl prone to fighting
Una guerriera or una gladiatrice (una violenta, also, but in a bad sense)

woman prone to fighting
same as girl...

powerfully-built female
Una matrona, una botte (very, very, very unkind...)

powerfully-built male
un armadio, una botte (very, very, very unkind...)

gangster
gangster (seriusly, just as in English)

punk
punk

hoodlum
I don't understand this

cool guy
Un figo

cool girl
una figa

delinquent boy
un criminale (or delinquente)

delinquent girl
una criminale (una delinquente)

Thank you. A tomboy is a girl that likes to do "guy" things, or a girl that acts masculine, and a hoodlum is a gangster; a thug.
A tough, often aggressive or violent youth. This has a negative connotation.

A punk is a rough, violent person who engages in destructive actions.
THe slang defintion of punk is: a young person, especially a member of a rebellious counterculture group.

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Re: reply to contrex

Raphillon wrote:

JGoldman10 wrote:
I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

JGoldman10 wrote:
Thank you. What slangs do they use for a "tough girl/chick"? I know "gina" is one term.

"guido, bruno, and goomba... Gina"? Who told you that? I've never heard none of those in that sense...

That's no surprise, because those are actually terms that english-speaking people use to disparage Italian-americans.

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Re: reply to contrex

kickycan wrote:

Raphillon wrote:
JGoldman10 wrote:
I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

JGoldman10 wrote:
Thank you. What slangs do they use for a "tough girl/chick"? I know "gina" is one term.

"guido, bruno, and goomba... Gina"? Who told you that? I've never heard none of those in that sense...

That's no surprise, because those are actually terms that english-speaking people use to disparage Italian-americans.

I thought they were Italian-American and Canadian-Italian terms.

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Re: reply to Raphillon

JGoldman10 wrote:

Thank you. A tomboy is a girl that likes to do "guy" things, or a girl that acts masculine, and a hoodlum is a gangster; a thug.
A tough, often aggressive or violent youth. This has a negative connotation.

A punk is a rough, violent person who engages in destructive actions.
THe slang defintion of punk is: a young person, especially a member of a rebellious counterculture group.

Tomboy
Un maschiaccio

hoodlum
un violento (ok, I would say "stronzo" actually, but that would be very unpolite... and "stronzo" has other meanings too...)

punk
punk (like in English)

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Re: reply to contrex

JGoldman10 wrote:

kickycan wrote:
Raphillon wrote:
JGoldman10 wrote:
I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

JGoldman10 wrote:
Thank you. What slangs do they use for a "tough girl/chick"? I know "gina" is one term.

"guido, bruno, and goomba... Gina"? Who told you that? I've never heard none of those in that sense...

That's no surprise, because those are actually terms that english-speaking people use to disparage Italian-americans.

I thought they were Italian-American and Canadian-Italian terms.

Okay, I'll go with that.

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Re: reply to contrex

kickycan wrote:

Raphillon wrote:
JGoldman10 wrote:
I know "guido, bruno, and goomba" mean tough guy.

JGoldman10 wrote:
Thank you. What slangs do they use for a "tough girl/chick"? I know "gina" is one term.

"guido, bruno, and goomba... Gina"? Who told you that? I've never heard none of those in that sense...

That's no surprise, because those are actually terms that english-speaking people use to disparage Italian-americans.

Really? I didn't know that... Oh well... buono a sapersi :wink:

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They surely aren't Italian-Italian terms :wink:

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d'accordo

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Oh, it's always funny to speak "Italian" with Italian-Americans.

Most of them speak some sort of anglicized Southern Italian dialect their parents taught them as "Italian", and at least one, when I told him he was actually speaking a mixture of English and Napolitan, kindly told me: "fangoora!"... it took me about half a minute to realize he was trying to say the Napolitan "Vaffanguro!" and then I burst laughing.

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Hi-I'd like some help with Italian slang

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