"Italians love emotional people. If you're reserved you either have something to hide or you're just plain stupid."
―Joe Novella
Italians are known to wear their hearts on their sleeves. They are quite emotional, and also quite vociferous about it at the same time. Passion ranks high in Italy―be it about religion, fashion, food, or football, and not necessarily in that order.
They say that you can render an Italian speechless if you tie up his hands. It kind of gives us an idea about how physically expressive these people can be. And as far as the Italian language is concerned―well, it does rise to the occasion and compliment their feisty gestures as well.
Learning Italian from scratch can be a time-consuming process. Therefore, in addition to 'Ciao', 'Grazie', and 'Arrivederci', we give you a few Italian slang words and phrases to help you blend in.
Common Italian Slang
Allocco
(allo-coh)
a stupid personAlzare il gomito
(al-zare il go-mee-toh)
to drink heavilyBalena
(ba-lay-na)
a fat womanBoccalone
(boh-cah-lon)
gossip mongerCaspita!
(ca-spee-tah)
gosh!Colpo di fulmine
(col-poh dee ful-mee-ne)
love at first sightDonnaiolo
(do-naii-olo)
womanizerGuastafesta
(gu-asta-fes-tah)
party pooperMamma mia!
(ma-mma mee-ah)
oh my!Nuotare nell'oro
(nu-oh-ta-reh nell-or-oh)
to be rolling in moneyOh mio Dio!
(oh mee-yo dee-oh)
oh my god!Puzzare da fare schifo
(pu-tzar-reh dah far ski-foh)
to stink to high heavenRoba da matti
(ro-bah da mah-tee)
crazySaccente
(sa-shen-teh)
a know-it-allTutto sale e pepe
(tyu-toh sal eh peh-pe)
to be lively and cheerfulUggioso
(ooh-gio-soh)
a boring person
Frequently-used Italian Exclamations
Che figata!
(ke-fi-ga-ta)
Awesome!Dai!
(da-yee)
Come on!/Please!Meno male!
(me-noh ma-leh)
Not bad/It's a reliefMagari!
(ma-gah-ree)
I hope/I wishBasta!
(baz-tah)
Enough!/Stop it!Figurati!
(fi-guh-ra-tee)
It's nothing!Mizzica!
(mi-tzhi-ka)
Holy cow!Zitto!
(zi-tt-oh)
Shut up!
So the next time you're in Rome, do as the Romans do. And don't forget to speak Italian as the Italians do!