What Cabbage Do You Want ? and other Italian curses translated into English
Monday, October 31st, 2005 -- J. DoeOften times words in Italian do not translate into English and visa versa, especially the curse words.
Imagine going to work one day and seeing your co-worker solve a problem and saying ‘What butt !‘
You’ll likely be shown the door with a nice sexual discrimination lawsuit soon to follow in the mail.
Here is a list of some of our faves.
- What cabbage do you want ? Sounds like you are in the vegetable aisle of a supermarket instead of mad.
- I don’t care a saw. Do you care a hammer and nails ?
- Don’t break my boxes ! Something you might expect an upset Federal Express employee to say
- Pig misery. What about goldfish in those tiny fishbowls ? They look miserable too.
- And for the terrible blasphemers… Pig God. Don’t say it in front of a church. In Italy they’ll throw you in jail, in the US they’ll throw you in a padded cell.
- And for the really terrible blasphemers… Madonna dog. Even if you like the early songs sung by Madonna
too funny! linked and commented…
So what does the cabbage remark mean?
This is an X rated comment (so don’t read it if you’re under age 17)!
‘Che cavolo vuoi?’ is a more polite form of ‘che cazzo vuoi?’ which is a very vulgar way to show displeasure.
Another common variation of cavolo is ‘incavolata’ which roughly means ‘pissed off’.
Buzzurro and I often translate the vulgar italian curses into English so we sound like innocent babes, when we are really cursing like sailors.
Thank you, J. I will save this for my next wedding toast.
Interesting wedding.