Stai fresco
Wait and hope. Stay fresh, so you will have a high level of conservation given the low temperatures, so you will last longer, so you can also wait longer. Sometimes it also indicates a certain amount of disillusionment related to something that perhaps will never occur …
Eg “Are you waiting for Giangiuseppa?” “Then stay cool!”. (Giangiuseppa is a latecomer note …)
Incartapecorito
It can be used in various ways. Generally it is an epithet aimed at those who have undergone rapid and evident aging such as to have a rather wrinkled appearance typical of sheep paper (material produced through the processing of sheepskin, on which it was once used to write). In the same way, it can be understood from a “spiritual” point of view, addressed to those who have a parched heart, and stiffened in outdated patterns. Sayng to someone “inpapershipped” also can be an exhortation to unlock. The sheep paper is rigid and wrinkled, it can be also addressed to those who, at a particular moment, remain enchanted without uttering a word. es. Wake up! Are you “inpapershipped”?
Beato chi c’ha n’occhio
Sometimes preceded by a very prolonged “seeeee”. A way of speaking of great dialectical utility. Sometimes it becomes necessary to put yourself in a position of apparent disadvantage to escape from one’s responsibilities. In summary it is a bit like saying: “I am so in a bad position that I do not even have eyes, to the point that I am inclined to consider as blessed those who have only one eye.”
The reference to Polyphemus is quite evident. Oh maybe not …
A Cavacecio
Human combination of positions, which takes place between two people (in which one leads to “minechickpeas” the other) by placing the legs astride the neck or even the whole bust on the shoulders (as if it were a backpack).
It usually occurs when someone is unable to walk, or at least very tired.
It is done with children (often), also to allow them a view from a higher position.
In short, a word that expresses mutual solidarity, and all the beauty of helping each other. Nobody knows exactly where it comes from (why on earth should we mine a legume to be carried on our shoulders?), But this time we keep it that way, without investigating further, in all its effective poetry…
Se Lallero…
When you really express your complete distrust of something, putting it out of all possibility in time and space.
“…What are you saying to me!?
What are you really talking about?!
This one cannot be heard!”
(Adriano Bono – from the album “Se Lallero!”)
Siamo rimasti co’ na scarpa e na ciavatta
An uncomfortable situation. Maybe we dared too much? Sometimes putting your feet in two shoes is not the best attitude, the risk is not to get anything good if you are not clear and straight. Popular wisdom always brings good advice.
Ma dando vieni? Dalla montagna del sapone?
Interesting story … it was said in Rome in the once upon old times. “To eat the soap” that is, making bubbles from the mouth. Bubbles = Air (scented by the way). Lack of consistency. To say nonsense. Flatter. Cheat.
And so it happened that, during Fascism, the Duce, engaged in diligent movements of entire neighborhoods, promised new and sparkling houses to the evacuees, built in the hilly village of Primavalle.
This valiant Roman neighborhood, a little higher than usual than the rest, earned the nickname of “soap mountain”, due to the scam with which the jaw-dropping dictator had deceived them. So … those who come from the soap mountain are naive, a little gullible, and more generally an unaware victim (at least at first since the Primavallesi soon realized how empty they were, as always, the words of politicians).
Pe’ puzza e pe’ miracolo
It took or will take very little to obtain a certain result. An inconsistent distance separated success from failure. Furthermore, the advent of divine forces has provided to resolve the situation, and certainly it is not common. Basically it takes more effort, otherwise we won’t make it.
Manco a li cani
It is a harsh expression of the popular Romanity, from our suburbs where the sun of the good god does not give its rays.
It reminds us that something can be so bad, so indigestible, so horrible, that not even a dog, although notoriously strong on his stomach, could accept it. Sometimes it is said about a person and in a purely aesthetic sense. Sometimes about food. The translation is a bit fanciful and too literal this time…
Bella/o su tutte le rote
A compliment full of style! The reference is to the lottery wheel. In fact, each “important” city has its own specific wheel of fortune and therefore its own lottery. Fate has always been linked to beauty and love, in a visceral constant interweaving throughout our lives. Sometimes luck in the game does not go hand in hand with love (lucky in the game, bad lucky in love) and at the same time it is said that the graces of the blindfolded goddess do not discriminate (luck is blind).
It is an ancestral plot that after centuries of close relationship, playing a first-rate role within life, comes to remind us that a woman or a man can be beautiful on all the wheels, therefore in every city, wherever they are they fear no comparison.
Where the wheel turns, beauty can remain an irrefutable fact, although subjectively speaking.
Anacapito?!
So you didn’t understand at all. Be surprised because what I said or I am going to tell you is amazing!
A chi tocca nun se ‘ngrugna
Sometimes you have to accept the unquestionable choice of fate. You were chosen by chance or by the community to do a certain thing. The best reaction is undoubtedly to indulge the events without complaining. After this we can say “today to you tomorrow to me”.
M’arimbarzi!
I challenge you! Your small and miserable strength will collide against my layer of unassailable rubber causing a rejection which I will hardly notice.
Sto ‘na favola. Sto ‘na crema
Both expressions of modern Roman youth slang indicate a state of absolute well-being.
I feel as good as in a fairy tale, it is quite understandable. The “cream” state, on the other hand, is a little more airtight, but brings us back to an intense and pleasant state of sweet yellow softness…
La la pe’
This is simple. “La la pe'” in Rome stands for “Almost there”, about to do something or be something or become something.
But we can say it sounds much better and probably gets better the idea of “incipient proximity”. (?!)