An American who worked as an au pair in Italy found that children there didn’t seem to react so positively to fun sayings like, “No way, Jose” or “Ready, Freddie?” Yet some research suggests we’re primed to love...
Why is “colonel” pronounced like “kernel”? The original form comes from Italy, where a colonello was in charge of a column of soldiers. As the word moved from Italian to French, it took on an r sound, but the English...
banana skin n.— «Italy are a good side—they won two games in the Six Nations and pushed Ireland in the warm-ups and most of them have beaten Scotland before. This, therefore, is not a “banana skin”; it’s what the French call a...
pizza parliament n.— «Pizza parliament is a semi-derogatory term used to describe the parliamentary system in Italy (and other countries) where there are so many political parties that it is impossible for any one of them to have a...
flowbetweenness n.— «Produced on July 9th, 2006, the day of FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 final match between Italy and France, this network shows the passes from every player to those three team-mates he passes to most frequently. Strength...
spawny adj.— «They qualified for the semis by kicking Maradona off the pitch (so when he retaliated he got sent off) and a spawny Rossi hatrick based on defensive errors by Brazil when Italy were getting pissed on.» —“Re: Bring back...