Heather Broster
In the sport of boxing, boxers, their trainers, or their corner attendants, would throw the sponge or towel used to wipe the boxer’s face into the ring to signal defeat and the end of the fight. This act produced the idiomatic sayings gettare la spugna (literally “to throw the sponge”) in Italian, and to throw …
The Italian word for the fur or pelt of an animal is pelliccia. It derives from the late Latin pellicius (“of skin”), which in turn is a derivative of pellis (skin). pelliccia fur Pelliccia is a feminine noun, so it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Similar to the English word, pelliccia can refer …
The Italian word spinta quite literally means push in English. It is the feminine form of spinto (pushed, compelled), which in turn comes from the verb spingere (to push). spinta push / incentive Because spinta is feminine, it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Two of the most common verbs you will see used …
Mistakes are an inevitable part of learning a new language, and they’re not only normal but also an integral aspect of the language acquisition journey. The more mistakes you make, the faster you will learn the correct way to say things. Still, that doesn’t mean some of these mishaps aren’t downright hilarious. In this article, …
The saying costare un occhio della testa (literally “to cost an eye of the head”) in Italian is used to refer to something that costs a lot of money. It draws a comparison between the irrecoverable and painful loss of an eye to the loss of a large monetary sum. Costare un occhio della testa …
In idiomatic expressions, it’s common for Italians to use the word zucca, which means pumpkin, gourd, or squash, to draw comparisons to human heads and brains. An example of such an idiom is “avere sale in zucca,” which translates literally to “to have salt in one’s gourd.” It is used to describe someone who is …