Today, I present you with Ten Italian Songs You Would Love if You Knew They Existed. The older songs are songs my parents raised me on and the more recent ones are songs I’ve come into contact with since I’ve been living in this crazy boot. The reason you will love these songs is because […]
The Acquisition of Language
Friday Fix – Old Man Angelo on Successful Marriages
OLD MAN ANGELO: All men cheat on their wives. ME: Is that so. OLD MAN ANGELO: Yes. In fact, there is only one woman a man will never cheat on. ME: Really. OLD MAN ANGELO: Yes. A pumitrozzola. ME: A what now? OLD MAN ANGELO: A pumitrozzola. It’s a portmanteau. PU – puttana*- MI – […]
Keeper of the Castle: A Play in One Act
CAST OF CHARACTERS EVA: Writer. American. Early 30s. Breathtakingly gorgeous. OLD MAN ANGELO: Pensioner. Early 60s. Italian. Haunts the bar where Eva goes to write. Scatters outrageous, unsolicited advice like so much birdseed. MARCO: Policeman. Italian. Mid-40s. MARCO was once one of Eva’s interview subjects for an article she was planning to write. FRANCESCO: MARCO’s […]
Sound of Myself
Beyond Sunday roasts and slick rainy streets… beyond lush green parks and Oscar Wilde preening on a rock…. beyond Viking boats and Jo Burger and College Green and Georgian doors, there’s another reason why I’ve been so stupid-happy to be back in Dublin. English. I get to speak English.
Signora/Signorina
In Italian, you address a man as signor. You address a woman – mature, married – as signora. A younger woman – ostensibly unmarried, unattached to children – as signorina. 1 signorina, 2 or more signorine. Where do I fit in at 30? I’m unmarried. There are no children around my ankles. And yet – […]
Your Hiberno-English Word For the Day
Today’s secret word is eejit. Its meaning will be pretty self-evident to any English speaker, but let’s see how it works. American-English: Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat, idiot. Hiberno-English: God, Jedward are a pair of awful eejits, aren’t they? Eejit: a word to be uttered with equal measures of passion and disgust. Just look […]
Your Hiberno-English Word of the Day
Today’s secret word is ridebag. American English: Dang, the new guy in Accounting is a total hottie. Hiberno English: Jaysus, the new guy in Accounting is a complete ridebag, isn’t he? Ridebag. I’m dying. I’m dying! Leave it to the Irish to blend wit and lust. Note: I’ve yet to hear this word used in […]
Your Hiberno-English Word of the Day
Today’s secret word is gorgeous. Let’s see how it works. American English: That sweater you got from KMart is pretty cute. Hiberno English: That jumper you’re after buying from Dunnes is just gorgeous! Got it? Cute/pleasing = gorgeous. That goes for budget clothes, people, objects, and behavior. I can be gorgeous if I feel like […]
The Poet
It’s Trinity Ball Night. That means Trinners students get to dust the cinders off their jeans and hop into a pumpkin for a memory-making night of music, drink, and elegant dress fun. Walking through College Green this evening, weaving through the six pack-clutching, tuxedo-clad Trinity Ball attendees, I stopped short when I saw this: If […]
Two Women, One Bus
On the 15A into City Centre, two women are sitting together, chatting gaily. It’s a sunny day. The bus bumps over the Grand Canal, heads up Aungier Street, makes a right on Harcourt Road past The Bleeding Horse pub. Woman 1: … and then she took them down to Disneyworld in Florida, you know. Sure, […]