pugliese

I don't know what "Oasis" is either, I have obviously never shopped there! I can lend you one of OH's parkas then may be they'll speak Italian to you in the shops

bricwood

stereotypes are funny, my girlfriend told me you can always tell the Mafia in southern Italy as they wear flat caps , they are nearly all in the Mafia!, a new family moved in near me and I told the only other English person "I think they are English, I said they both wear shell suits, I thinks we have chavs, but they were locals

bricwood

this is what I meant, by oasis

http://blogs.watoday.com.au/executiv...gallagher2.jpg

Wiffy

I must admit that I wouldn't find this problematic in the least. Would save me from trying to drudge up the little Italian that I don't know.

Lorna at Vicenza

I sometimes need something that I don't know an exact word for, so I use other words to explain what I want.

A couple of weeks ago I needed a needle-threader so I went to the haberdashery and just aked for "one of those things that helps you get the thread through the eye of a needle." I should have guessed it would be something easy like "infila ago".

I swear that needles have become smaller with tiny eyes.

Funny how those kind of places also sell underwear. Boxes of big Sloggi knickers and reinforced granny tights next to reels of ribbons and cotton.

MarkRD

It's ye olde 'haberdashery' isn't it? I think my Mum used to go in one when we was kids and they had undies and that too .. I think

bricwood

I wonder what I could have mistakenly said to a woman in my road, (she has a summer house here) she always walked pass and I said hallo and then in September my sister came for three weeks, this woman came round to befriend my sister, she took my sister to the sea arm in arm and was very friendly , on Sunday she asked my sister if she wanted to go to the market and my sister and I went along, then at Christmas she came with loads of presents for me, too many, it was weird, fortunately I had bought some things to give to people if I got surprise presents, I gave her a bottle of spirits, then she started coming giving me food all the time, huge bottles of olive oil, big cheeses , jars of stuff she made which I cant identify, I thought funny this, then one day she turned up at my door and I made her coffee and she told me how she was married for 44 years and her husband died and tears rolled down her cheeks, last week she came here Thursday and I said see you Sunday possibly (Sunday is the day all the people turn up who have summer houses) this has triggered something and she turned up wearing eye make up and was smiling in a strange way, she fancies me!,its my worst nightmare, how do I get out of this without hurting her feelings? I just want to sit in my rocking chair and read gardening books, when I first came here someone said dont get involved with the women here you take on the whole family, I did not give her the come on I dont think, this woman is loaded but I dont care she is not attractive in any way, god help me

HADENOUGHPIZZA

well you could either claim to be broken hearted over a previous romance and
tell her youknow just how she feels because no one could ever ever replace
your lost love , OR , you could hint that you are gay .....

37100

I thought that to, but was leaving it for Duffer to say.

pugliese

oh, poor Bricwood, what a predicament. My sister is not coming over till June, otherwise I would have sent her round, she'd save your bacon!

MarkRD

Slightly ot , but perhaps not.

I'm interested to know how many in 'mixed couples' (ie. OH Italian) have Italian as main house language and how many English. How about the kids?

Lorna at Vicenza

Not sure if we speak one language more than the other at home when it's just us. If we do then it's probably English as I spend more time with the kids.
When it's just me and the kids, I speak English nearly all the time with odd Italian words thrown in willy nilly - mostly to do with school like "scheda" "zaino" or "quaderno", but I also use "school books" and "school bag" too.

When OH is home we speak to each other in Italian, he speaks to the kids in Italian, but I still mostly speak to them in English.

Fortunately the kids can flip between the two languages as fast as I can because I'm sure a lot of my conversations go something like this :

"Allora, ti hanno dato il passaporto a lavoro? Dove devi andare questa volta?
Get out of my kitchen - dinner is not ready yet.
Cosa? Bangladesh? Sai quando?
I will call you when dinner is ready.
Vuoi un pò di vino? Ho parlato con papà oggi sai. Mi ha detto che mia sorella .......
For God's sake get out of the bloody kitchen will you and get that zaino ready for tomorrow! You're what? You're bored. Go and tidy that pig sty of a bedroom then."

'Hai sentito la mamma - vai a fare ordine in camera.'

Poor kids

Patty

I'm the same as Lorna. Most of the time I speak English with my children. If we are in the company of italians or in a shop or with the nonni, then I speak in italian out of respect. I used to be a bit embarassed when people stared at us when we were speaking English in public (like the park etc) but now I've learnt to toughen up and I simply dont care anymore. My kids can switch over with no problem at all.

pugliese

We all had a good laugh today during my English class. We were talking about restaurants and menus and one of them had to read the menu out loud and there was "chicken" on it.

He turned to me and said:

Chicken in a restaurant? Don't you do that in an airport?

It was so funny because he really meant it, till we explained what "chicken" was

I bet there are some similar stories out there!

HADENOUGHPIZZA

Have you all noticed that Bricwood has gone VERY quiet ? I hope the woman wasn't a serial killer ! perhaps he has decided she's not as bad as he thought and is enjoying a romance ?