L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS FRANCESCA BEZZONE L et me make things clear since the very beginning, being bilingual is a bless- ing: there's nothing quite as b e a u t i f u l a s m a s t e r i n g w i t h n a t i v e p r o f i c i e n c y t w o l a n - guages, especially when linguis- tic knowledge grows along with that of two different cultures and traditions. Many of our readers, I'm sure, know exactly what I mean. I'm bilingual, but not in the way many Italian-Americans are. I was born and bred in Italy a n d o n l y l e a r n e d E n g l i s h i n school, as many European kids do nowadays: in fact, I started much later than most, as French, not English, has been my lan- g u a g e o f c h o i c e i n p r i m a r y , middle and high school. When I was eighteen, I started learning English in university and within two years I moved to Ireland, where I worked, lived and stud- i e d f o r 1 5 y e a r s . L a n g u a g e immersion and, I must admit it, a c e r t a i n f l a i r f o r a c q u i r i n g idioms, made me bilingual: I think, dream, pray and curse in English as well as I do in Italian, and I no longer see a line divid- ing the two to the point I, at t i m e s , s w i t c h b e t w e e n t h e m without even noticing, to much amusement of my friends. While living abroad, I appre- ciated how popular Italian cul- t u r e i s : i t c e r t a i n l y i s s o i n Ireland and in the US, the two c o u n t r i e s o f t h e a n g l o p h o n e world I'm more familiar with, but I noticed the same in the U K , i n G e r m a n y , i n F r a n c e . Many, and sometimes, peculiar are the ways the world show us love yet, all of them, I like to think, come from a beautiful place of respect, love and admi- ration. From the awkwardest of pasta cooking attempts, to the quite common assumption all I t a l i a n s a r e b e a u t i f u l Neapolitans, they all come from a good place. Yes, even that bad carbonara with cream and no egg many of us had at least once in their lifetime could possibly be read as a sign of love. As a linguist, however, I do have a pet peeve: the misuse of Italian words. Mind, it works both ways: the incorrect overuse of English words has become endemic in Italy, without being accompa- nied with the improvement of our actual knowledge of the lan- guage. Yet, it is to the curious and mostly haphazard use of Italian words and expressions in the English language I'd like to dedicate some time. So let's get into kitchen: the kingdom of grandmas, the true heart of the home. Here, not in t h e b e d r o o m , i s w h e r e " t h e magic happens" in Italian house- holds. Because food is food, and food is untouchable, almost like a p a t r o n s a i n t ' s h o l y i c o n . Needless to say, this is where most of linguistic annoyances take place. In many a way, I understand why: in the end, food is one of Italy's most notable exports and the number of Italian or Italy- inspired restaurants in endless. I usually am ok with most linguis- tic variations coming my way when sitting at the dining table, but some I just seems not to be able to shake off: penne arrabbi- atta is one of them. It should be penne all'arrabbiata, as many of you know. I have no problems with the lack preposition, it's the excess of double consonants that gets me every time, possibly because of the sheer cacophony o f i t : w h e n s a i d o u t l o u d i t sounds like the mock version of an Italian word, the type of thing y o u ' d e x p e c t t o f i n d i n t h e mouth of a Pulcinella imperson- ator trying to sell you plastic gondolas for fifty bucks. This gross spelling mistake has, however, a fairly straight forward linguistic explanation: double consonants are never pronounced in English, so it's almost normal that an anglo- phone with no knowledge of Italian spells arrabbiata incon- gruously, especially when think- ing that the pronunciation of the word remains virtually the same to anglophone ears. A n d w h a t s h o u l d w e s a y about the ubiquitous panini? I love toasted sandwiches, they are the perfect comfort food and, alas, I bow my head to the c r e a t i v i t y a n d t h e d e l i c i o u s ways of American, Irish and British cooks when it comes to make one: the fillings, the out- side buttering of bread slices, even the use of pesto as a sauce (which many Italian would con- sider odd) are, in my humble opinion, pure genius. But that word, panini, is odd. The mean- ing itself is not too far off, as panini means "sandwiches, " but the number is: panini is a plural and if this doesn't make m u c h o f a d i f f e r e n c e i f y o u don't speak Italian, it certainly does if you do. I ordered count- less panini in my life and I can guarantee you I felt as if I were letting down my maestra every t i m e . I n s p i t e o f k n o w i n g I u s e d t h e t e r m c o r r e c t l y i n English, I still cringed inside and felt like ordering a panino instead. But that would have made me cringe even more, as it made no sense in English. What a struggle it was. C r i n g e - w o r t h y t o I t a l i a n s peakers is als o the popular expression al fresco, used com- monly to indicate eating out- doors. In truth, eating al fresco makes little sense in Italian, as it translates, quite literally, into "eating in the cool." The locu- t i o n a l f r e s c o i s f r e q u e n t i n I t a l i a n , i n p a r t i c u l a r w h e n speaking about keeping some- thing cool (tenere al fresco) or seeking some respite from the heat (stare al fresco, cercare un po'di fresco), but is never used to speak about eating in the open air. If anything, it conjures images of people sitting in a cold corner of a cellar, eating sandwiches and drinking sodas from the can. The expression u s e d i n I t a l i a n i s m a n g i a r e all'aperto, that is, "eating out- doors." Little examples and only, really, the tip of the iceberg. But believe me, in Italy we're just as guilty of mispronouncing and misusing English words: from trolley for "suitcase," to body for "leotard," il Bel Paese is not new to butchering meanings and pronunciations. A common feature of all lan- guages and cultures in the end: maybe it's just better to embrace the awkwardness and enjoy all the panini al fresco in the world with a big smile on our face. Being bilingual is great, but sometimes understanding both Italian and English makes it hard not to see the awkward- ness of certain expressions Eating "al fresco": a popular English expression that makes little sense in Italian Eating "panini al fresco" and why being bilingual sometimes turns into a pain

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