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Sat 18 Sep, 2004 01:13 pm
Edit [Moderator]: Moved from General to North America.
I was in town last Thursday...which, it turns out, was the first day of the Feast of Saint Gennero in Little Italy.
So I went...and it was wonderful
Funny thing happened.
I was going to call a friend who works in the city (he is of Italian decent and knows a bit of Italian)...and I wanted to say "I'm at the feast" in Italian. We sometimes meet for a sandwich and a beer...and I was hoping he'd break free for the festivities.
But I could not come up with the "I'm at..." part. Although both my parents spoke lots of Italian, I never learned it and the phrase simply would not come to mind.
No problem...I'm at one of the premier feasts in all Italiandom...in New York City's Italian neighborhood...a feast featured in one of the Godfather movies.
So I asked an Italian looking guy at one of the stands...but he turned out to be Latino and didn't know how to say it.
I asked at the booth next to that one...same result.
I went from booth to booth...probably 30 in all...and not one had an Italian speaker who could give me the proper wording.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity...and after (honestly) dozens of requests with people in the street as well as the booths, I finally found a woman in a Zeppola stand who told me...
..."sono alla festa di Santo Gennero."
Amazing!
It was a great feast...and the food was plentiful.
But it was amazing.
La storia e' molto divertente!
Oooh! That brings back memories. I would have loved to have been there. I am glad that you had a good time!
Hmm...if I was Frank, I would have picked up atleast 10 men in the process
Gautam wrote:Hmm...if I was Frank, I would have picked up atleast 10 men in the process
Actually, Gautam, I was looking for the women. (The place was loaded!)
How ya doing, man. You gonna be back here soon. JoeNation and I still meet almost weekly for a few beers. We'd love to see ya.
Phoenix32890 wrote:Oooh! That brings back memories. I would have loved to have been there. I am glad that you had a good time!
Wish you had been there too, Phoenix. Hope you come to the big City sometime so we can chase a few beers down together.
f.
ossobuco wrote:La storia e' molto divertente!
Wow...that sounds so damned sexy.
One of my great regrets in life is that I cannot speak this beautiful language.
I can't speak it either. Well, I can a little, but by the time I am forming my second sentence, the listener has wandered off down the street.
Well, that's not true either, italians are pretty polite at giving me a chance to speak. I just get befuddled at how to put a set of complex sentences in coherent italian in a timely manner. Among other things, I don't hear fast enough. Plus, my pronunciation is genuinely gross and unmusical compared to theirs. I remember our first ride on the subway in Rome... the sheer music of the voices...
La lingua d'italiana e' simile a una bella donna. Soltanto con amore si rivela a te.
I've been to that madhouse they call an italian festival. I love it!
Kicky's hearing the music..
By the way, have any of you been to the Belmont area of the Bronx? It's supposedly the "real" Little Italy. I finally got there last weekend. It's pretty small, and there aren't many restaurants, but you can buy the freshest pasta and cheeses ever, and it seems more authentic to me, and not touristy at all.
We went to this little store where they give you a picture with the different sizes of pasta, and you pick the one you want, which is then cut to size right in front of you. Then they throw some semolina flour on it and bag it for you, and you're all set. I gained two pounds last weekend from that little trip!
kickycan wrote:La lingua d'italiana e' simile a una bella donna. Soltanto con amore si rivela a te.
I've been to that madhouse they call an italian festival. I love it!
You're right there. Have you gone yet this year?
Nope. Actually I forgot that it was starting this weekend. Thanks for reminding me!
kickycan wrote:La lingua d'italiana e' simile a una bella donna. Soltanto con amore si rivela a te.
Ooh, kicky baby! Say it again! <swoon>
Eva wrote:kickycan wrote:La lingua d'italiana e' simile a una bella donna. Soltanto con amore si rivela a te.
Ooh, kicky baby! Say it again! <swoon>
Yes! I knew that was a great line. Don't think I won't be using that one when i go to Italy next year.
That line even got Osso swooning, un po'.
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