MarkRD

Verybello.it

There's a UK flag with 'COMING SOON' written next to it. Be afraid. Be very afraid.


P.S. Franceschini's band in The Economist.

sunnysider

Thanks Mark.

Truly shocking.

I can understand why they didn't want to label the thing bellissima - it would have been lazy/cliched.

But they should just have used another Italian phrase/redesgned the page/earned their money.

Horrible.

I dread to think where this will end - if they aren't careful Italians will end up talking like a foreigner crucifying their language welcoming foreigners to the tourist sights who speak "perfect" Tuscan Italian.

primularossa

Very often it's the fault of the journalists.....it's them who spread around English words when not necessary....and then they become common terminology replacing Italian one.

One for all: e-mail - often only "mail" (which is wrong in my opinion: if you talk of "electronic mail" you should use "e-mail"). Why not "posta elettronica" o "messaggio di posta elettronica"? God knows.

But there are more serious problems in life! :-)

Lorna at Vicenza

Here are a few that you probably already know:



Top 15 English words reinvented by Italians The Local

chris120

One thing I hate seeing is "No Stop" instead of Non Stop, mostly used for shop opening times etc. Just try convincing them it’s wrong.

Another thing, some years ago Alenia Space had an experiment called the tethered satellite system, they always pronounced the word tethered as te-the-red, to this day they insist their pronunciation of the word is correct!

sunnysider

Thanks for that Lorna.

I see it includes that favourite "sexy shop".

Though not one of my journalistic faves (now rather dated) - tilt/in tilt. Anyone at all young, even Italian, must wonder about the origin.

primularossa

For most of the Italians, English has been learned as a written language and not as a spoken language. This is particularly true for those that use English in science and technology: we read papers, books, and so on but we seldom speak that language.
This has two consequenses: one, positive, is that Italians do less spelling mistakes in writing, compared also to many British. The other is that very often we don't have a clue of how to pronounce many words, due *also* (I would say *mainly*) to the fact that pronouciation rules are not so clear and univoque as they are in Italian.

sunnysider

quite possibly true. Though I suppose folk of any nationality writing a foreign language are perhaps more likely to check themselves since they still feel in school mode.

MarkRD

Good summary. Pity about the sexist comment on 'slip', but we'll let that one, er, slip by...

sunnysider

??

britaly00

Baby park? If this has the same function as a creche, why don't they adopt it. I suppose English is trendier.

MarkRD

"Slip. Few women bother with them anymore....."

britaly00

Ah, the joys of going commando.

sunnysider

Sorry mark, i don't see how that is "sexist". I thought the writer was just saying that few women use what the brits TRADITIONALLY call a slip was used any more. Whereas the italians, so the writer says, use the word to describe knickers. On the final point i'll bow to folks' in the field knowledge if the writer is wrong.

MarkRD

OK, but it's ambiguous. Or maybe just me ...
Any views on this Duffer?