If you’ve spent any considerable amount of time in Italy, chances are you’ve realised that most Italians aren’t exactly sticklers for accuracy. In fact, you might even think that some have a peculiar inclination to do things carelessly.

One of the best Italian phrases to voice your disappointment after the local questura has once again misplaced your documents (and blown your dreams of a stress-free life to kingdom come) is a casaccio. 

As you may have already noticed, a casaccio uses the popular -accio suffix to create the pejorative version of a caso. 

While a caso describes any action that is done at random or without any specific method to it, a casaccio goes a step further and refers to things that are done not only randomly but also with a reprehensible degree of carelessness.

Il postino ha consegnato il pacco al vicino.

Ancora?

Ti ho detto che fa le cose a casaccio!

The mailman delivered the parcel to the neighbour.

Again?

I told you he does things without thinking! 

As shown by the above example, a casaccio behaves like any regular adverb, generally following the verb and its direct object.

Besides being used to refer to others’ mistakes, it is also a popular expression among locals when they complain about the little clarity of a written document. 

Hai compilato il modulo?

No. Non si capisce niente. E’ tutto buttato li’ a casaccio.

Did you fill out the form?

No. I can’t make heads or tails of it. Everything’s just dumped in there haphazardly. 

Finally, a casaccio is also used to describe a speech which makes little logical sense and which the speaker has put little thought into. 

Com’e’ stata la conferenza di oggi?

Pessima. Hanno parlato a casaccio per un’ora.

How was today’s conference?

Terrible. They talked nonsense for an hour.

Do you have an Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.