Re: [Leica] To all the Ameritalian LUGgers

["Joe Codispoti" <joecodi@thegrid.net>]

Dan,

I enjoyed reading your post and can't help but admire your cosmopolitan
sense.

One of the most interesting aspects of Italian dialects (there are more than
15 with local variations), is that they reveal foreign influences where you
would least expect it.
In the Friuli region, for instance, where "Furlan" is spoken, you can detect
words derived from French and Spanish . An odd coincidence since Friuli
borders with Slovenia.
It is generally accepted that the best Italian is spoken in Florence.
Therefore, be careful with Neapolitan accents.
Don't you hate it how your hands get tired when you speak Italian ?

Joseph



- ----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Post <dwpost@email.msn.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 1999 8:43 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] To all the Ameritalian LUGgers


> This thread is somewhat amusing, and a bit sad. It seems that even the
> Americans of Italian descent are prone to stereotypical concepts. Not that
> they are prejudiced, but that their perceptions are colored by the social
> interactions with their families, and reflect the perceptions of where
their
> families left.
> At one of my favorite pizzarias, run by a group of Neopolitans, I practice
a
> new word every week, sometime trying a new verb once in a while. I picked
up
> some phrases, usually from listening and reading the sleeves of my opera
> records. I was somewhat surprised to find that the dialect of Bella
Firenze,
> used in a lot of operas, is different that the way it is spoken in
everyday
> Naples! A buddy in the Navy, Merluzzi, introduced me to Sicilians, his
> ancestry, while we were in Boston, and whose dialect I found at time
almost
> remeniscent of Latin. Italy has not been a unified country for more than
> about a century and a half, and still the customs, dialects and even food
> differ widely through out. You go to Pisa, the Po valley, and in Northern
> Italy, there are some villages where they speak German on one side of the
> street, and blonds speak Italian on the other. In Calabia, where the
Greeks
> once colonized, at the heel of the boot, you can be hard pressed to find
> pasta at times, but the pastry wrapped fish and meat dishes there are
> wonderful, and not what you'd think as Italian food! Tuscany, and there
wine
> and food, while geographically not that far from even Naples, is a whole
> other world- the food and wine is different, and even the history is
> different. The Etruscan flavor is much more pronounced. Egad! I feel a
road
> trip coming on!
> The Hills of the Piedmonte are as different from the shore of the Bay of
> Naples as night and day, and I find an infinite wonder in the cultural
> diversity of what is loosely called Italian Culture.... Not to mention the
> varied cultures with in the other members of the EU!
> Dan
> -Europe, anyone?
>
>
>