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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Italian word of the day: ‘Fannullone’

Stop slacking off and learn this amusing term.

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

Allow me to introduce you to my new favourite word: fannullone, or 'layabout'. 

È un gran fannullone come suo padre.
He's a complete layabout, like his dad.

Like our English term and the image it conjures of lounging lazily on a sofa, fannullone is wonderfully descriptive: it's made up of fare ('to do'), nulla ('nothing') and the suffix ~one, which denotes a large size.

In other words, it literally means 'big do-nothing'. 

It turns out that Italian has a string of a similarly evocative words for the same kind of person: there's perdigiorno, 'day waster', from perdere ('to lose') and giorno ('day'), as well as scansafatiche, 'effort dodger', from scansare ('to dodge') and fatica ('effort').

Bear in mind that these words, like many compound nouns (nouns made up of two other words), are invariable. So it doesn't matter if you're talking about one day-waster or several, an effort-dodging man or woman, they'll always keep the same ending.

Siete delle perdigiorno.
You lot are slackers.

Lei è una scansafatiche.
She's a lazy bum.

Why does Italian have so many great words for people not doing much of anything? I couldn't possibly speculate.

Do you have an Italian word you'd like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

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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/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.

Don’t miss any of our Italian words and expressions of the day: download our app (available on Apple and Android) and then select the Italian Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

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