Parlo del Piu e del Meno - Internet Discoveries
- Our friend Larry, who's moved to Rome to be with his partner Vincenzo, is a recent arrival from North America. Like us he's experiencing that settling in process that can be exhilarating as much as it can be exasperating, as fascinating as much as it can frustrating. And like me he's writing about his experiences here in his blog: AMOROMA (I love Rome.)
One of the frustrations are the number of stray cats in the city and one of the fascinations are the Cat Ladies - every neighbourhood has at least one. Normally older women, unmarried or widowed, they have taken it as their task to see to the needs of the street cats in their area. They put out food - water is not a problem as it is ready available from the constantly running communal pumps - and tend to the wounds that street cats are prone to. Often they are the only people the cats will let approach them - justifiably given the number of people I've seen kick at the strays. And in some cases the Cat Ladies set up Sanctuaries to look after the strays; Larry has adopted a blind kitten at the Torre Argentina Sanctuary, Emily Bronte, she's a beauty.
- A few weeks ago on one of the chats I ran into Paolo and he mentioned he had a website featuring his photography and video images.
Since then I've made frequent visits to Light and Colors; his most recent update (October 6, 2007) includes some incredible photos of one of my favorite cities in the World - Venice. Paolo doesn't only love to capture Italy - though understandably it is the focus of much of his work - he obviously has a closeness to France and Paris. I enjoy his work immensely and find his black and white studies and portraits remarkable.
- I received a comment from Giorgia Meschini over at Opéra Bouffe on the Forza Nuova poster that appeared around town last Sunday. Like many Romans she was disturbed by both the content and the organization sponsoring the rally. I'm still not sure if the rally had a big turnout or not as I didn't see anything on television about it and I'm still struggling with reading the newspapers. Honestly I have a feeling I will struggling with Italian for the next four years - the old brain just isn't what it once was.
Giorgia's blog is in Italian and I've warned her I'm going to use it as a learning tool. She combines classical music, a love of Robbie Burns, a big crush on Antonio Pappano, a love of English history (at least from what I can see on her Guy Fawkes post) and hot pictures of the cutest nephew this side Tiber. And she's promised she'll keep the local idioms down for the dumb Inglese (my words not her's) or better yet explain them.
10 novembre - San Leone Magno
4 comments:
Hehe, not keeping the odd words at bay just for you (hey, you're NOT dumb!), but for other Italian speaking people not coming from my parents' area as well, as there are so many dialects in Italy they actually are real languages and a milanese wouldn't understand what a neapolitan is saying (and vice versa) if they're speaking their respective dialects. :)
For instance, see here:
if little Diego could speak (he's only 8 months old and only says "mamma", "pappa" and, well, stuff like that) he'd probably speak like what's written in the ballons - that's his hometown dialect, he's born and lives in Eboli, near Salerno (yes, same "Eboli" as the eponymous Princess from Verdi's Don Carlos).
p.s.: my surname's "Meschini" as in "l'ho perduta, me meschina, ah chi sa dove sarà!" ;) That was the cause of a lot of (non-phisically-harming) bullying towards me when I was a kid, and I sort of hate it, but it's my Dad's surname, and my Dad's a good person, so I'm proud of bearing it even if it sucks. :)
Giorgia, perdono, perdono (I know I don't have to tell you the background music for this) I'm going to blame it on my failing eyesight. Getting old sucks but it beats the alternative.
Sadly dialects are disappearing as the world becomes smaller and the media sets the standard. There are places where local dialects have totally disappeared and with them much of what gives a region its character and individuality. I have the feeling you are the sort of person who guards that dialect as proudly as you proclaim your family's name.
Don't worry, I know it was just a typo. :)
On the dialects front, some time ago someone posted an entry to their blog asking people to comment in their own dialect of origin... it was hilarious, as at some point people started asking each other to *translate* what they were saying :D anyway, here it is.
Sounds to me like you are settling in famously, despite whatever frustrations you may have experienced. I would love to take a course in Italian. Perhaps soon.
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