L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano I n I t a l i a n , t h e w o r d spaventoso (spah- ven-toh-soh) comes f r o m s p a v e n t o , m e a n i n g " f r i g h t , " "scare," or "shock." Its core meaning, therefore, is "fright- ening" or "scary," something that causes fear or strong worry. So, a rumore spaven- toso is a "terrifying noise," and una storia spaventosa is "a scary story." Spaventoso, however, isn't only used for the creepy and the frightening; you can also use it for real danger: È stato u n i n c i d e n t e s p a v e n t o s o means "It was a horrible/ter- rifying accident," with the idea that something serious and upsetting happened. Over time, spaventoso also took on a broader sense. It c a n d e s c r i b e s o m e t h i n g extremely bad, unpleasant, or u n a c c e p t a b l e ; s o , w h e n someone says una mancanza di rispetto spaventosa, they m e a n " a s h o c k i n g l a c k o f respect." In this use, the word doesn't mean "scary" in a horror sense; it means "so b a d t h a t i t a l m o s t s h o c k s y o u . " T h e t o n e h e r e i s annoyed or critical, and it often appears in spoken Ital- ian and in journalism. There is another meaning that is very common in every- day speech: spaventoso can b e u s e d s i m p l y t o m e a n 1 his, her, its 6 spider 7 to the; at the 9 belts 10 (I) run 11 (feminine plural of) first 12 to bite 15 and (before a vowel) 16 (feminine of) red 17 he Using the provided meanings as clues, search for the appropriate Italian word in the grid 1 on the 2 gold 3 garlic 4 to bring; to carry 5 tears, teardrops 8 round, circular 9 to believe 11 taken 13 from the 14 six " h u g e , " " e n o r m o u s , " o r "incredible," especially when t a l k i n g a b o u t n u m b e r s , q u a n t i t i e s , o r e f f o r t . F o r example, Ho una fame spa- ventosa literally means "I have a frightening hunger," but the real meaning is "I'm starving." Similarly, Ha lavo- rato a una velocità spaven- tosa means "He worked at a frightening speed," which in English would be closer to "He worked unbelievably fast." In these cases, there is no fear involved: the word is acting as an intensifier. Because of these layers, tone matters, too, so Un film spaventoso could mean "a scary movie," in a horror sense, but , depending on context and delivery, it could also mean "a terrible movie," as in "an awful movie." Ital- ian often relies on voice and context to make that clear. W h e n I t a l i a n s w a n t t o avoid confusion, they some- times switch to alternatives like pauroso (scary), terribile (awful), or pazzesco (crazy / unbelievable), depending on what they want to stress. Ho un mal di testa spa- ventoso. I ' v e g o t a t e r r i b l e headache. C'era una folla spavento- sa alla stazione. There was an enormous crowd at the station. LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Spaventoso: it doesn't always mean scary! © Prostockstudio | Dreamstime.com 1 three 2 one 3 Monday 4 man 5 light 6 to eat 7 two 8 to look 9 to listen 10 hand 11 to hold 12 woman 13 friend 14 shirt 15 mother 16 river A C R O S S D O W N ITALIAN WORD SEARCH The solution to these word games will be available on the next edition. Games courtesy of Lexis Rex

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