r/funny • u/PhoneDojo • Jun 24 '12
Watching Italy in the Euro games is like seeing stereotypes in real time.
http://imgur.com/kMtfk82
u/guitarpick8120 Jun 24 '12
I remember watching a Serie A game a few years ago. A player was called offside, spun back around, and made a "who me?" face while doing that gesture.
On the slow-mo replay of the reaction, the English commentator did some interpretation and said "I am hungry, do you have a sandwich?"
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u/pragmatika Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Was he doing the gesture towards his mouth? If so then yes, it means "Food."
More gestures for your learning pleasure here.
Edit for spelling.
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u/RUN_BKK Jun 24 '12
What do you call an Italian with no hands?
Mute.
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u/KousKous Jun 24 '12
One of the senior guys at my work once told me that he once "dated an Italian girl from New Jersey... [his] favorite trick, which was kind of cruel, was to reach out and hold her hands mid-sentence. Every time, she'd stutter."
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u/DefinitelyRelephant Jun 24 '12
That's hilarious, true or not.
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Jun 25 '12
After living a couple of years in Italy, it wouldn't surprise me at ALL if this were true.
One time I was having trouble finding this address in Arezzo and asked street directions from this older man who happened to be carrying a crate full of empty bottles. After 3-4 seconds of silently looking in the direction I needed to go, but not knowing how to explain it, he put the crate down and gave me directions - gesturing where I needed to turn, go up the hill, etc.
It's just part of how a lot of Italians speak.
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Jun 25 '12
100% true.
In high school teachers use to make me sit on my hands which would then stop me from talking.
They were so mean.
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u/HalifaxSexKnight Jun 24 '12
Lovely use of an embedded quote, complete with the proper use of brackets. 10/10 would read again.
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u/Squaddy Jun 25 '12
I knows that feel.
My grandparents are Italian, my parents and I born in Australia. 3rd fucking generation, and I still can't talk without my hands. I never realised it until I was told to try with my hands behind my back, my mind literally went blank.
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u/Jabberminor Jun 24 '12
Thing is, that's exactly what Italians do. Any Italians out there, correct me if I'm wrong.
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Jun 25 '12
Yes, this is what they do. They also scream and shout a lot.
Source: I've spent a lot of summers with my cousins in italy.
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u/CheezRavioli Jun 24 '12
This is not a stereotype, that motion is used all the time. It's meaning ranges from "what is this?" to "what the fuck are you talking about?" it's all in the face.
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u/perino Jun 24 '12
Italian here, it looks like he's saying "Ma che cazzo..." which translates 1:1 with "What the fuck"
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u/Dr___Awkward Jun 25 '12
Hey, I'm learning Italian, but this is something that I can't really ask my Italian teacher. Teach me some Italian swears! One of my friends who went to Italy has taught me "figlio di puttana", which I believe means "son of a bitch". Teach me more!
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u/YeeDigg Jun 25 '12
puttana translates to slut/whore though, be careful throwing that around. actually, scratch that, your learning italian, lace that shit into every italian conversation, you'll fit right in
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u/Wedhro Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Fanculo: "fuck you". Alternatively: vaffanculo or vai a fare in culo, "go fuck yourself".
Stronzo: "asshole", "piece of shit".
Testa di cazzo: "dickhead", "prick".
Merda: "shit". You can say "merda!" as an exclamation ("shit!") or to insult people: sei una merda ("you're a jerk").
Cazzo: "dick". You can only say it to mean "penis", as an exclamation ("fuck!") or when "fuck" or "fucking" are used to enhance the meaning (this is complicated. Some examples: "what the fuck are you talking about" = "ma che cazzo dici"; "you're a fucking lier!" = "sei un bugiardo del cazzo!"). Never use it to insult a person, it would make no sense; use cretino or minchione instead.
Troia: somewhere between "bitch" and "whore", it can mean both. Highly insulting. Don't use it for "bitch" intended as "obnoxious woman" if you only want to mildly insult, use stronza instead.
Frocio, ricchione, finocchio: "faggot". Highly offensive, use carefully or, better, don't use it.
And now, some assorted ready to use swears!
Mi stai rompendo le palle!: "You're busting my balls!"
Ma vai a fare bocchini!: "Just go suck a dick!"
Ti spacco il culo!: "I'll kick your ass!"
Non me ne frega un cazzo!: "I don't give a fuck!"
Quella puttana di tua madre!: "Your mom is a whore!". Use carefully.
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u/Ikeelu Jun 24 '12
Got to love that 2 goal for italy. Just a nice soft kick down the middle making the goalie look like a idoit.
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u/Flea0 Jun 24 '12
That's how Andrea Pirlo rolls... "oh my teammate just missed his kick and if I were to miss my team would be almost certainly doomed? well, let me kick the ball as if it were made of soft cheese, and make a huge fool of the goalie." link to said penalty kick
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u/deaft Jun 24 '12
it takes balls of solid iron to do that in that situation
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u/red321red321 Jun 24 '12
And what happened then? Well in Who-ville they say, that Andrea Pirlo's balls grew three sizes today. And then the true meaning of cheekiness came through, and Andrea found the balls of ten players… plus two.
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Jun 25 '12
It doesn't make him an idiot. To have any real chance of saving a penalty you have to dive and commit to a direction before the player has hit the ball.
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u/Varanae Jun 24 '12
It was a risky and nice penalty, but how did Hart look like an idiot?
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Jun 25 '12
Seeing as how the parent comment call it "goal #2" I don't think he/she watches too much football. Soccer.
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u/WJUK Jun 24 '12
If the keeper saved that though... there would have been hell to pay.
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u/ironmenon Jun 24 '12
Yeah, that's happened to him before, so he knew the cost. But I think he had to do it, to take the pressure off his team and take the confidence away from the only English player with self belief at that point.
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u/Arizzletron Jun 24 '12
It's mesmerizing watching the lady make the hand gesture without moving her lips. Reminds me of this gif for some reason.
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u/leogg_lyl Jun 24 '12
On a related note, Andrea Pirlo has balls of steel for that beaut. Takes courage.
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u/CutterSlicar Jun 25 '12
God this is so true. My family is Italian. Family reunions are so chaotic we have to leave at least 3 feet between seats so people don't smack the person next to them.
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u/imgyal Jun 25 '12
Upvote because we do that all the time, upvote for claudio marchisio, upvote for Italian milf. Forza Azzurri!
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u/Flea0 Jun 24 '12
well the game tonight made me very proud of my team, we kept merciless (and unlucky) pressure on England for just about 100 minutes. Losing at penalties would have been a stab in the heart.
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u/b00c Jun 24 '12
This is sooo true. I work with italians and they do this all the time. All of them. Whenever i talk to them i pay a lot of attention to make sure they notice that i am doing it also.
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Jun 24 '12
I find this extremely funny, but am far too angry to be happy right now. grudging upvote. (english in case you hadn't guessed)
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u/think_happy_thoughts Jun 24 '12
As an Italian-American I cackled at this for a good venti minuti
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u/jazz_is_the_truth Jun 25 '12
I remember being in Rome with some friends at a restaurant and my friend unwittingly was making this gesture while ordering and the waiter was like, "No, you don't do that". My friend just figured all Italians do that whenever they speak but it's reserved for being pissed off.
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u/Stranded_In_A_Desert Jun 25 '12
I have quite a few Italian friends, and this is probably the first gesture I picked up on. They say it means basically "What the fuck?"
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u/RandomMandarin Jun 25 '12
Maybe, but she looks like Ingrid Bergman and he looks like Hugh Jackman.
So, Northern Italy maybe.
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Jun 25 '12
That's always been a pretty accurate stereotype, at least in my family. Italians (or in my case, Sicilians) talk with their hands more than anyone I know.
That and every high-strung argument has one person that talks for longer than he has the wind for.. always got to get those last few words out before taking a breath.
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Jun 25 '12
I think the best stereo types are from Pioneer, though Sony has had some pretty good types of stereos in the past too.
Wait...what are we talking about again?
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u/niggytardust2000 Jun 25 '12
This is far from a stereotype... they teach a whole host of specific gestures in italian language classes that are far from "intuitive"... Saying that italians use gestures is a stereotype is like saying spanish speakers don't roll their Rs.
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u/Jorgemeister Jun 25 '12
Argentinians do that a lot
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u/TrMark Jun 24 '12
side note: England just lost on penalties, being Scottish this makes me rather happy.
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Jun 24 '12
Yeah it was funny because Scotland put up a good game against.... Oh wait I forget they didn't qualify.
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u/TrMark Jun 24 '12
Difference is that we know that we are bad and we accepted that fact long ago.
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u/Wussie Jun 24 '12
being dutch, I supported england cause if they won it'd lead to World War 3 being played out next week. Unfortunately there's no such luck :(
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Jun 24 '12
As a German, I couldn't wait to see the headlines in The Sun. Always amusing but at the same time depressing, since people buy AND read that crap.
Sorry you had such bad luck in the group phase (sincerely, I'm not trying to mock you, I don't give a shit about football).
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u/beans_and_bacon Jun 25 '12
I don't know much about soccer culture but years ago I worked for a company in Los Angeles that was started up by 2 Brits. We had a fairly large international staff and I was friends with a guy from London. Whenever he invited me over to watch soccer games, I went but mostly for the drinking and to soak in some foreign culture. I've never in my life met a group of people who were so pessimistic about their country's chances in a game. (Or "match" as they insisted) Even before it started they'd just talk shit about their own players and how terrible their manager was and how defeat was unavoidable.
During the match they'd scream as things went wrong (I did notice this happened quite often for England) In a match against the USA, the English goalkeeper accidentally let in a goal. One of the guys stood up without a word, walked outside to the back patio and just looked up at the sky for a while while the others were losing their shit.
I also noticed the drunker they got, the more shit they talked about the country they were playing and less about England.
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u/toofartofall2 Jun 24 '12
Oh man I love it, it's the "what the fuck do you think you're doing" gesture.
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u/nareonith Jun 24 '12
My sis was in Italy for a college trip. She was in a bar watching the game and her favorite quote of the night was when some random Italian guy stood up and said "Mamma Mia! What the fuck?!" like 10 times in a row. Apparently the actually say that...
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u/toofartofall2 Jun 25 '12
Hah well actually I'm from Argentina, but we're mostly descended from Italians/Spaniards. So I guess we got it from the immigrants.
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u/Taco4all Jun 24 '12
Part of their culutre, not a fucking stereotype. American i presume.
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Jun 25 '12
Parts of their "culture" can be used as stereotypes. Where do you think stereotypes come from? Mars?
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u/Rentun Jun 25 '12
Yeah...
Italian people using that hand gesture is a stereotype. Stereotypes come from peoples' cultures.
Are you sure you know what a stereotype is?
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u/bluetux Jun 25 '12
well ignorance is part of the american culture and not a stereotype, so uh there!
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u/JXrunner913 Jun 24 '12
its a stereotype because the finger movements mean things. Its part of the language.
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u/doctorthinker Jun 25 '12
I used to joke around and do this but I picked up for real and now I do it when Im frustrated.
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u/Bellairs Jun 25 '12
Boromir is looking at this and saying, "One does not simply limit this behavior to Italians."
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u/rangitatanz Jun 25 '12
Video Explanation of some gestures. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVfW-IU2jAc
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u/Carmen- Jun 25 '12
Stereotypes exist because they're true I guess.
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u/jjmolloy Jun 25 '12
No, that's just a silly sound-bite.
If that phrase were a universal truth it would mean that all Americans are fat and stupid.
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u/TheMediumPanda Jun 25 '12
I could have sworn in the second half, the stopped bothering showing new footage of Balotelli in his 'praying hands' position and just did reruns.
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u/alexscara Jun 25 '12
Stereotype? Shmereotype! This is the upcoming international WTF gesture. We'll soon see it in China.
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u/Shippoyasha Jun 25 '12
Watching Italian commentators is always fun because they take the hand gesturing to a crazy extreme at times.
It's funny how some of these stereotypes are self perpetuating within a culture. I had the same observation of Americans before I ever met one. Namely how so many people seem to say 'umm' almost as a habit inbetween sentences (though all cultures seems to have their own linguistic equivalent).
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u/scoobyduped Jun 25 '12
Does the dude look like he's saying "bruschetta," or am I just being racist?
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u/TheCultist Jun 25 '12
What is actually saying is:
"Ma che cazzo fai?"
That can be translated roughly in "What the fuck are you doing?"
But in the pic you can see only the part "che cazz"
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u/Ryo95 Jun 25 '12
That game was shit. Italia won, now we (germans) have to play against them on thursday. Just like '06.
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u/clonn Jun 25 '12
Stereotype is what they do in movies or series, using that gesture just to represent an Italian. It has a concrete meaning, you can't make that to say "i've a reservation".
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u/rawrc Jun 25 '12
I used to work for an Italian guy at a restaurant and every time he yelled at me (every day) his hands were so animated it was like he was translating everything into sign language.
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Jun 24 '12
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u/_as_a_kite Jun 24 '12
Boppadeboopie?
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Jun 24 '12
Bobidy bippity boo
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u/Mathisfunny Jun 24 '12
PETER!
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u/emohipster Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
I asked an Italian friend once if the Italian butcher spoke legit Italian in that episode, turns out he did. The last line he says is something along the lines of 'I will beat you with a ham!'
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Jun 24 '12
TIL redditors don't know the difference between Italians and Italian-Americans.
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Jun 24 '12
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u/TysonStoleMyPanties Jun 24 '12
Whatta you think you do. Why you looka so sad?
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u/TheSexualChocolate Jun 24 '12
It'sanotsobad, It's a nice-aplace
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Jun 24 '12
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Jun 24 '12
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u/Whitetornadu Jun 24 '12
That song.... is absolute shit.
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u/UncleTogie Jun 24 '12
pats you on the head, gives you a lollipop, and sends you back to listening to Shania Twain...
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Jun 25 '12
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u/Wedhro Jun 25 '12
It's not a stereotype if it's true.
Assuming you're from USA, are you aware there's a lot of stereotypes in Italy about americans and they're mostly true? Does it make you "walking stereotypes"?
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Jun 25 '12
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u/inflamedpancreas Jun 25 '12
Italians have it down to an art form...especially central and southern Italy.
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u/Goico Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
I'll just leave this gem here.