L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano M any believe that scara- manzia is a thing of t h e S o u t h , b u t n o t h i n g i s further from the truth. I am from the North-West and I, too, grew up knowing that opening an umbrella insi- de the house porta sfortu- na and that a hat on the bed is nothing short of a cata- strophe. My grandparents — and our elderly in general — were pretty adamant these t h i n g s w e r e a n o - n o a n d , while always led by a fairly inquisitive mind, even as a child, I never asked them why. Well, I think it's time to find an answer. L e t ' s s t a r t w i t h o u r u m b r e l l a . E v e n t h e R o m a n s u s e d s i m i l a r o b j e c t s , m o r e t h a n 2 0 0 0 years ago, to protected them- selves from both rain and sun. Thing is the sun was a divinity for our ancestors, so t h e i d e a o f o p e n i n g a n u m b r e l l a i n s i d e a h o m e sounded a bit like trying to shade your abode from the protection of a god. But there are more expla- nations. T r a d i t i o n t e l l s u s t h a t , s o m e c e n t u r i e s l a t e r , Medieval priests who were c a l l e d u p o n t h e d y i n g t o bestow the Last Rites would s y m b o l i c a l l y o p e n a n umbrella over the head of t h e s i c k : a s u m b r e l l a s weren't used a lot in those days, they began being asso- ciated with death, sadness and mourning, hence the desire not to see them open inside your home. There is y e t a n o t h e r e x p l a n a t i o n behind Italy's visceral dislike of open umbrellas indoors and I reckon this is the one our elderly probably knew better: the poorest people would use open umbrellas to cover holes in their roofs and stop the rain from entering their homes, so opening an umbrella inside was believed t o a t t r a c t n e g a t i v i t y a n d poverty on the household. In the 19th century, then, tech- nology made umbrellas open automatically and people began to fear getting hurt by them, especially if they were opened in confined spaces. It seems our dislike for open umbrellas at home, in the end, may have a very prosaic origin, indeed. Our ancestral fear of hats on beds is rooted just as deeply in our heritage and mores and it is believed to be associated to two important f i g u r e s o f o u r o l d s o c i a l world: the village doctor and the parish priest. Once upon a time, doctors were called home only when the situa- tion was really serious: their services costed money and m a n y f a m i l i e s c o u l d n o t afford them on a regular basis. In other words, if the doc was at the door, it was pretty much sign someone inside was seriously — and often irremediably —- ill. In such emergencies, the doctor often bypassed the hall and kitchen and went directly to the patient's bedroom, pla- cing his hat — let's remem- b e r i t : g e n t l e m e n a l w a y s wore a hat! — wherever it was handier, even on the bed. And so, the image of a h a t o n a b e d b e c a m e synonym of severe illness, of death and, by extension, of misfortune. Another version o f t h e s a m e s t o r y w a n t s priests in place of doctors: priests, too, were called to someone's home when the Last Rites had to be given a n d i n t h i s c a s e , t o o , t h e necessity to rush quickly to the dying's bedside imposed no stops in other areas of house, but the bedroom. And so, their own tricorn would often end up on the bed, yet another ominous symbol of the incumbency of death upon the family. There is another intere- sting tale that explains it all, though, one that bring us to the battlefield and the mili- tary world: it was, some say, common to place a soldier's helmet on his casket if he died during battle and that's where the idea that a head- piece being place somewhere w e r e a p e r s o n l i e s s t i l l means sorrow. W e all use it, but where d o e s i t c o m e f r o m , really? And how should we translate it into English? These are the two, most pres- sing questions associated with our expression of the day, alla faccia (ahl-la fah- tcha). According to our dic- tionary, it is a playful expres- s i o n , o f t e n u s e d t o m o c k someone or something we're saying. P r o b a b l y , a l l a f a c c i a (which is always followed by the preposition di and its articulations) comes from a similar locution borrowed from Southern Italian dia- lects, fare qualcosa alla fac- cia di qualcuno, that is, to do something blatantly wrong to someone openly, quite lite- rally, in their face. Let's make things easier w i t h a n e x a m p l e t o r e a d together, like "tradisce la moglie da prima del matri- monio: alla faccia dell'amo- re!," which we translate as "he's been cheating on his w i f e s i n c e b e f o r e g e t t i n g married: so much for love!" We notice a couple of impor- tant things: the first, of cour- se, being that the husband is a certified scoundrel, but that's not what we're writing about. In the second part of the sentence, the use of alla faccia wants to stress that the husband's behavior is the opposite of love, and that's why we translate it with the equally, so to speak, sarcastic expression "so much for." Sometimes, alla faccia can also be translated with in spite of, like in alla faccia della dieta, mi sono mangia- to mezzo tiramisù: "in spite of the diet, I ate half a tirami- sù." Alla faccia is also used as an exclamation, to show sur- prise, but always mixed with a tiny bit of contempt, like in Marco dice che non guada- g n a a b b a s t a n z a , m a h a appena comprato una mac- china da 50mila euro." "Alla faccia," which we translate as: "Marco says he doesn't earn enough, but he's just bought a 50k car." "So much for being poor!" In Italian, alla faccia is a common expression, used almost exclusively in oral language, but with some excursions into the written, depending on the context in which we write, of course. It may take a little to get used to it and use it correctly, but nothing helps as much as trying! Alla faccia delle critiche, ha vinto il primo premio In spite of criticism, she won the first prize. Vado in vacanza, alla faccia del mio capo! I'm going on holiday, in spite of my boss! Alla faccia dell'amicizia, si è messa con il mio ex. So much for friendship, she's dating my ex! LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Expression of the Day: alla faccia: a mysterious expression of our every- day language Open umbrellas and hats on the bed, things you should never see in an Italian home If you want to keep all of your Italian friends, never open an umbrella inside the house! Photo: Vfedorchenko/Dreamstime

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