06 April 2013

Typical "ways of saying" in Bari.

The Apulian dialect of the area of Bari, despite being very rich of words, reflects a tendency toward expressive synthesis (a kind of aspiration to almost telepathic communication) which, inevitably, produces a remarkable series of paradoxical statements.

Aware of this his cryptic communication, the Apulian citizen poorly educated, when he communicates with an Italian who is not originally from Apulia or when he communicates with Apulian citizens educated more than him, tries to amend its dialectal language and tries to speak in Italian language but unconsciously retaining the syntactic logics of its dialect.

The result is often hilarious and, thereafter, I am going to offer a few examples:

1) "Ho tutte le mani di terra" ("I have all the hands of land")Ho le mani interamente sporche di terra (I have my hands entirely dirty of ground).

2) "Attenzione al bambino, ancora cade!" ("Attention to the child, again falls!") = Che si faccia attenzione al bambino perché, pur non essendo già caduto, vi è l'alta probabilità di una sua imminente caduta! (That you pay attention to the child because, while not already he fallen, there is the high probability of its imminent fall!).

3) "Dalla faccia me ne sono andato" ("From the face I'm went")ti ho riconosciuto dal volto (I recognized you from the face).

4) "Devo stendere la lavatrice" ("I have to hang the washing machine") = Devo porre ad asciugare il bucato appena lavato in lavatrice (I have to put to dry the laundry just washed in the washing machine).

5) "Accendi l'acqua!" ("Light the water!") = Accendi il gas sotto la pentola piena d'acqua! (Light on the gas under the pot full of water!).

6) "Devo fare i piatti" ("I have to do the dishes") = Devo lavare i piatti (I have to wash the dishes).

7) "Devo fare la polvere" ("I have to make the powder") = Devo spolverare (I have to dust).

8) "Vieni già mangiato!" ("Come already eaten!") Vieni a casa mia con lo stomaco già pieno (Come to my house with your stomach already full).

9) "Levati la bocca" ("Take off the mouth") = Togliti dalla bocca quel cattivo sapore (Take off that bad taste out of the mouth).

10) "Buttaci un occhio!" ("Throw him an eye") = Dagli un'occhiata (Check it out).

11) "Dottore, mio figlio non mi mangia più!" ("Doctor, my son not eat me again!") Dottore, mio figlio ha perduto l'appetito (Doctor, my son has lost his appetite).

12) "Dottore, i miei figli, a mangiare, ci vogliono le catene" ("Doctor, my childrens, to eat, it takes the chains")Dottore, per far mangiare i miei figli debbo adoperare la costrizione (Doctor, to make eating my children I have to use coercion).

13) "Il bambino ha lasciato l'appetito: neanche il latte mi va dietro" ("The child left the appetite: not even milk goes behind me")Il bambino ha perduto l'appetito: non vuol bere neanche il latte (The child has lost his appetite: does not want drink not even the milk).

14) "Lasci stare!" [Tipica espressione delle mamme con assai scarsa istruzione, quando ammoniscono i figli ad abbandonare un determinato oggetto od una determinata attività, ma, all'uopo, adoperando erroneamente il "Lei" in luogo del "Tu"] ("Leave her alone!") [Typical exclamation of the mothers with low education, when admonishing the children's to abandon a certain object or a certain activity but, for this purpose, using wrongly the "Her" instead of the "You"]) =  Abbandona quell'oggetto o quell'attività (Forget it that object or that activity!).

15) "Dottore, mi da qualcosa per il rovescio della nave?" ("Doctor, give me something for the backhand of the ship?")Dottore, mi fornisce un farmaco che possa evitarmi di vomitare conseguentemente al mal di mare? (Doctor, provides me a drug that can avoid me to vomit consequently to seasickness?).

16) "Mia moglie mi ha messo l'appartamento in faccia a me" ("My wife have put me the apartment in the face to me") = Mia moglie mi ha intestato l'appartamento (My wife has transferred to me the ownership of the apartment).

17) "Vieni, che ti faccio la testa" ("Come, that I do it you the head") = Vieni, così ti pettino (Come, so I comb you).

18) "Dottore, il bambino, appena vedo che ha la febbre alta, ci do subito in testa" ("Doctor, the child, as soon as I see it has a high fever, I give him once in the head) Dottore, appena vedo che mio figlio ha la febbre alta, adopero, immediatamente, rimedi drastici (Doctor, as soon as I see that my son has a high fever, I use, immediately, drastic remedies).

The distribution of the Apulian dialect of Bari (in the green area)

1 comment:


  1. Hi colleagues, its impressive post concerning cultureand completely explained, keep it
    up all the time.

    ReplyDelete

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