cafone

cafone
peasant, bumpkin, hick

Every country has its share of jerks, clods and ignorant slobs, but Italian reserves the word “cafone” (pronounced cah-fon-ay) for its home-grown variety. This utterly Italian insult traces its history back to Cafo or Cafonis, a centurion of Mark Anthony, mentioned several times by Cicero. Its linguistic pedigree includes a debut in Italian literature in 1861, the year of the nation’s unification, in a publication called La perseveranza (Perseverance).

Cafone can apply to any generic dork, but Italian offers distinctions for the son of an ignorant bumpkin (figlio d’un cafone), a crude slob (cafone rozzo), a tasteless boob (cafone sciocco), an ill-mannered fool (cafone maleducato), an officious ass (cafone impertinente), a tasteless jerk (cafone senza gusto), and a disgusting boor (cafone ripugnante).

The most recent Galateo (Italian etiquette book) includes a “dizionario delle cafonate,” an alphabetical listing of boorish behaviors that include throwing chewing gum on the ground per la gioia delle suole altrui (for the joy of others’ soles); sticking a finger into un pertugio del corpo (a body opening), grattarsi ostentatamente (scratching oneself ostentatiously) and using fingernails as stuzzicadenti (toothpicks).

I have used cafone exactly once—at a free concert celebrating April 21, Rome’s official birthday, at the city’s opera house. The mainly elderly Romans, dressed smartly (as their generation always does), were already seated when a pudgy foreigner in shorts and a tee shirt squeezed into our row to take the empty seat next to mine.

“Please don’t let him be American,” I prayed, but as soon as I heard his string of “Excuse me’s,” I knew he was. Just as he sat down, he erupted into a volcanic sneeze. Obviously lacking a handkerchief, he blotted his nose with the back of one hand and then wiped it dry on his hairy thigh. The appalled woman on my other side and I locked eyes and almost simultaneously mouthed the same words, “Che cafone!”

Cafone also can refer to something molto buono (very good): pane cafone, the simple daily bread of Naples and the surrounding region. You don’t need Italian to follow this basic recipe. Just watch Mr. Bread at work:



Sayings and Expressions:

If you encounter a cafone:
Ma Lei, cafone ci è nato o ci è diventato? -- Were you born rude or did you become rude?

Synonyms (useful if you ever find yourself trading insults with a cafone): rozzo, villano, zotico, buzzurro, maleducato

albergo

albergo

hotel

As we were tooling around Lago Maggiore many years ago, my husband asked me, “Who is this guy Albergo and why is his name on so many buildings?” I gently explained that “albergo” means hotel.

Derived from the Germanic haribergo for a military barracks, albergo dates back to the Dark Ages, when barbarian hordes swept over the Italian peninsula. The Romans, who described their orderly style of warfare as bellum, couldn’t withstand the disorderly tactics of the Germans, whose werra (war) became the Italian guerra and the root of the English “guerilla.”

Other Teutonic imports to the Italian language include scherzare (to joke), ricco (rich) and russare (to snore). Some words reflect the miseries the barbarians inflicted-- gramo for wretched, scherno for scorn, smacco for shame. Others reveal contempt for the occupying forces. Italian uses zanna, from the German for tooth, only for an animal’s fang or tusk and stalla, German for house, for a horse stall or a pigsty.

Over the centuries Italian evolved as a sort of linguistic hotel, accommodating guests from many languages. The Spaniards, who presided over the Kingdom of Naples, contributed courtly words such as complimento (compliment), baciamano (handkiss) and parata (parade). French added stylish touches such as moda (fashion) and cravatta (tie) and changed the meaning of parrucca, which had meant one’s natural hair in Italian, to wig (a "big wig" is a parruccone). A friend taught me a Russian import when she accused me of being a stachanovista (workaholic), from Stachanov, a Russian miner who introduced new techniques to increase productivity.

Today foreign words make up an estimated 10 percent of the Italian vocabulary. In the linguistic albergo italiano, English occupies the presidential suite. Several thousand terms have settled into mainstream Italian, including computer, software, best-seller, killer, manager, cowboy, popcorn, massmedia (one word), playboy, coffee break, stress, babysitter, flirt and weekend.

Some English words have simply acquired Italian endings: chat became chattare; blog, bloggare; and skype, skypare. However, others have taken on a uniquely Italian spin. In Italian a “golf” refers to a pullover; a “mister,” to a coach of a soccer team; a “smoking,” to a tuxedo; a “spot,” to a commercial; and a “fiction,” to a film for TV. From American politics Italian journalists took “ticket” for a party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates and created “tricket” for three contenders in an election.

Sayings and Expressions

albergo per famiglie – residential hotel
alberghi per la gioventù – youth hostels (ostelli della gioventù)
albergo a ore – cheap motel (literally a hotel by the hours) where lovers rent rooms for a tryst
albergo a gestione familiare – a family-run hotel, a bed-and-breakfast
“Questa casa non è un albergo!” – “This house is not a hotel!” a common complaint of mother whose children are constantly coming and going