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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Giallo’

It's no mystery what this Italian word means.

Italian word of the day giallo
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

In Italy, the word giallo is rarely out of the headlines.

That’s because the word is a byword for a certain type of mystery, thanks to a popular series of detective stories – usually quite short books in the pulp genre, often with unbelievable twists – that were published in the early 20th century between distinctive yellow covers.

Un giallo is still used as shorthand for ‘a detective story’ today.

But in Italian newspaper-speak, giallo can refer to anything vaguely mysterious: like ‘riddle’ or ‘enigma’. Most often you’ll see it accompanying crime stories, particularly when the culprit isn’t yet known.

‘Mystery surrounding the death of the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, shot in the heart at home: a recent crime story.’

It’s also used to spice up the fairly mundane. Local residents report hearing an unexplained noise? It’s un giallo. Sports reporters aren’t sure what time a football match starts? Un giallo again. 

‘Ahead of Lazio-Roma, the time of the derby is a mystery: decision expected today’: one sports headline from 2019.

Headline writers are the people most prone to use the word this way: in everyday speech, you’re more likely to hear giallo (pronounced “jial-lo”) in all the places you’d expect it – on a football pitch (un cartellino giallo is a ‘yellow card’), inside eggs (il giallo dell’uovo – ‘egg yolk’) and all over the phone book (le pagine gialle – ‘Yellow Pages’).

But there’s one extra place it turns up: on traffic lights, which for some reason in Italy turn giallo instead of orange or amber.

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ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Italian word of the day: ‘Rimorchiare’

Here's an Italian word you'll want to pick up.

Italian word of the day: 'Rimorchiare'

If you’ve ever studied for your foglio rosa (provisional driver’s licence) exam in Italy, you’re sure to have come across the word rimorchio (trailer).

Theory test T/F question: ‘The width of the trailer must never exceed that of the vehicle pulling it.’

Credo che dovremo noleggiare un rimorchio per trasportare tutta la merce.
I think we might need to rent a trailer to transport all the goods.

And rimorchiare, along with the more formal trainare, means to haul or tow.

La barca è stata rimorchiata a riva.
The boat was towed to shore.

But rimorchiare isn’t just used to talk about vehicles. It also means to pick or chat someone up, or hook up with them.

Sono usciti per rimorchiare.
They’ve gone out on the pull.

Se n’è appena andata con un tipo che ha rimorchiato.
She just left with some guy she picked up.

A rimorchiatore is a tugboat, but can also mean a player/persistent flirt, and rimorchione/a also describes someone who’s constantly chatting people up.

got talent nina GIF by Italia's Got Talent

In some parts of the country, meanwhile, you might hear someone described as a provolone – a big tryhard or wannabe player.

That’s a wordplay based on the reflexive verb provarci, meaning ‘to try it on with’, and the famous Italian cheese. 

È un gran provolone ma non riesce mai a rimorchiare.
He’s a real tryhard but he never manages to pull.

Do you have a favourite Italian word or expression you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

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