As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.
donnawright wrote:My mother is the one who used to say it. She was one of 6....3 born in Calabria and 3 in USA. She was born USA. I heard her mother say it, and she also said it. My dad's people came from Grosseto/Tuscany, and I never heard it from any of them. I sort of think Jamoke referred to calling someone a jackass.
Maybe my great grandmother did say it. She was like your mother, except it was 9 children, 2 born in Calabria (Catanzaro province), 7 born in America.
The term seems familiar, but I am not aware of her ever using it. My mother may have heard it before.
My mother says her grandmother did say Jamoke (as in "look at that old Jamoke") but not as often as other phrases. Now that I think of it, I have heard her (my mother) say it before, but again, not half as often as other phrases.
I went to see my GG aunt a few weeks ago (the daughter of my Italian immigrant grandparents) and she brought up the term "chooch".
She said she mentioned a couple of big chooches, and her grandson (or maybe granddaughter) said "whats a chooch, anyway" and she said, "a chooch is a jackass" and he went back to his mother and said, "grandma said a bad word" and she said, "no I didn't a jackass is a donkey."
I had a laugh when I read all the Italian no sorry dialect words people still use. I was born in Volturara Irpina, Southern Italy but I live in the UK and CIUCCIO (donkey), CACCA means (poo or somethin dirty), my mother and mother-in-law always used to use those words when my children were small. Anybody else remembers COCE meaning (it's hot), STATI CHITTO (be quiet), SCOLAPASTA (colander) NOPICCA (a little bit) PICCERELLA (something small), I could think of so many more. Thank you for bringing back memories.
About 40 years ago I made the transition (in my Masters thesis no less) from through to thru and was accepted by the Dean of my University as an alternative spelling. Lately I have noticed a sad deterioration of english spelling and grammar here in the forum(s) and facebook type sites. =Peter=
We pronounced it something like "stata zitta" and called it a "scola macarone." We never used the word pasta, it was all macaroni.
The phrase I remember was "manga pa gab" which means something like without thinking or not using you head.
Peter,
Young people who are used to texting use a whole different language, I call it internet shorthand. I think someone will one day write a dictionary of the words and symbols so those of us still in the dark ages will understand.
Squigy wrote:Yes, Suanj! I think that is it. My mother got it mixed up with another word. She said skoose-dee-mah is an insincere person. What you say makes total sense. Thanks!!
Booch-nas-kah-tah is "I hope you bust/burst". If anyone wants to try and figure that out
hahaha! My great grandmother ALWAYS used to yell that at my GGF!!! My mother translated it as "you should explode." She pronounced it a tiny bit differently but it is definitely the same phrase. I always imagined it would be spelled "buzza schiata" or "puzza schiata" ... no idea how the grammar is working there.
Researching surnames:
[In Teramo area] - Core / Fani / Venanzi / Secone / di Luca / Vannoni / Leteo / Bianchini / Cistola / Felicione / di Marco / Casalena / Romantini / Cintioli / di Francesco / Caponi / Foschi / Traini / d'Ascenzo / Ciare / Ciavattini
One of the most fun things that I discovered in my research was finding my look alike ancestor, Prince Marino Caracciolo II. Don Marino descends from the Caracciolo Rossi family, one of the oldest families in Naples, that date back to 950 AD. He was born in Atripalda on 9-6-1587 and died in Naples o...
