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ITALIAN LANGUAGE

What’s the one Italian word that English speakers find alarming?

The Italian language may sound like music to the ears of those who don't speak it - but there's one Italian word that doesn't sound so pleasant.

Published: 26 January 2024 12:57 CET
What's the one Italian word that English speakers find alarming?
This is one word Italian speakers won't want to shout too loudly when in English-speaking countries. Photo by Antonio Lapa on Unsplash

The Italian language doesn’t have all that many words that sound rude or shocking to Anglophone ears (unlike, say, Danish and other Germanic languages, which have no shortage of words which sound either comical or potentially offensive.)

But there is one Italian word in particular that readers say has earned them some funny looks when they’ve used it outside of Italy.

When we asked readers on our Facebook page which Italian words sound wrong to them in English, the one that came up again and again was dai.

“Bilingual kids going “daddy dai!” in the park!” said Laura Jayne Farminer.

Michelle Heron wrote: “I’m constantly having to tell my husband who’s Italian to stop shouting dai when we’re out walking our dogs.”

Innocently enough, dai means ‘come on’ in English, but with the pronunciation being so similar to ‘die’ it’s no wonder readers reported some horrified reactions.

And when combined with other, equally innocent Italian words, it can sound even more alarming.

“True story: Italian mom yelling “Dai, basta” in Italian at her kids running in a US store to stop running,” commented Linda D’Alessandro.

Sara Rovetto said: “Dai Giù! I’ve said that so many times to the dog or the kids before realising that ooooooops the bad looks were not directed to them but me.”

“Half my family is Jewish so that’s the very last thing I would shout on a bus or… anywhere.”

In Italy, dai is a word you’ll hear used very frequently by Italians, and it has a few possible uses.

But no matter how good your Italian is, as these examples show, it’s one word you might not want to use when you’re out and about in an English-speaking country…

Do you know any other Italian words that sound shocking to non-Italian speakers? Let us know in the comments below.

Member comments

  1. I was never comfortable when my children had an ‘interrogazione’ at school. It sounds far scarier than just being asked questions about a subject!

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OPINION

Are Italy’s many dialects dying out – or just evolving?

Italy's numerous local dialects are a source of pride, but the way they're used is changing dramatically, writes Silvia Marchetti.

Published: 23 May 2024 15:07 CEST
Are Italy's many dialects dying out - or just evolving?

The multitude of dialects in Italy shows the diversity and richness of our linguistic culture and traditions. However, in recent years there’s been a huge change in their use. 

It seems the use of dialect is dying out in many households. Figures from Istat, the Italian statistics bureau, have shown for years now that only around 14 percent of Italians still speak in dialect at home. 

IN MAPS: A brief introduction to Italy’s many local dialects

The boundaries between Italian and dialects are blurring. Unlike in the past, when they were a symbol of social status and people who spoke in dialect were looked down upon, now a new ‘middle language’ – neither Italian nor dialect – is emerging.

The upper-middle classes in particular, and professionals like doctors and lawyers, are dropping their accents to blend in and rise up the ladder. 

However, while dialects may be waning today, local authorities and private associations are pushing their use and recovery as a symbol of territorial identity and cultural belonging.

Dialect courses are booming all over Italy, with many regions allocating funds to saving local dialects. In Lazio, Emilia Romagna, and Friuli Venezia Giulia, just to name a few, resources are earmarked annually by regional councils for dialect lessons, while Sicily wants siculo to be taught in schools.

At local level, dozens of private cultural clubs are organizing evening classes and events in dialect, while famous folk singers now proudly sing in dialect, adapting iconic foreign hits.

In a village in deepest Puglia recently from an open window I heard a bizarre take on The Beatles’ Yesterday, which made me laugh out loud, written by Lecce-based musician Andrea Baccassino who has launched a dialect radio station. The deeper south you go, it seems the more locals try to preserve their native tongue. 

READ ALSO: Why are Italy’s disappearing dialects so important?

Despite the decline, many stereotypes survive around dialects. According to a recent survey some are still looked down upon – mostly the deep southern ones, tied to past waves of migration from Naples and Palermo to the more prosperous north.

But that is not the reason why they seem to be dying out. Rather, what is happening today is the result of a long-term trend which sees an inverse immigration occurring across Italy: southerners who move to the north to work are coming back home to the south, but they now speak Milanese or Piemontese, while northerners who went to the south, though they are fewer, have forgotten their original dialect. 

Once in Sicily I met an extended Sicilian family, half of it spoke Sicilian, the other half spoke Piedmontese, for their parents had migrated to Turin to work in the car industry in the 1950s.

Recently, during a trip to Bologna, I discovered that most staff employed in public offices and hospitals came from the south and spoke a hybrid between their own dialect and Bolognese. I recall one Sicilian nurse in particular speaking a funny Torinese-Siculo-Romano, as her husband came from Rome. 

The truth is, nobody nowadays in Italy is 100 percent from Naples, or 100 percent from Rome or Turin. People from the south have married people from the north and this has led to a picturesque combination of dialects, even if many people still nowadays tend to hide their origins out of habit. 

I think in future the boundaries between dialects will become even more blurred, and every Italian will be speaking a mix of every single known dialect, borrowing popular words here and there. Perhaps a word or two from Romanesco, and one from Siculo. That’s Italia. 

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