- Arse = culo.
- Blast! = Dannazione!
- Damn! = Managgia! Maledizione!
- Shit! = Merda!
- Get lost! = Si tolga/Togliti dai piedi!
- Go (to) = Va a…
- Go to hell! = Va a quel paese!
- Go to hell! = Va a mori ammazzato! (Rome).
- Hell! = Accidenti!
- I don’t give a damn! = Non m’importa un cavolo!
- Leave me alone! = Mi lasci/Lasciami in pace!
- Piss off! = Togliti dai piedi!.
- Prick! Hell! Shit! = Cazzo (Cavolo, a far less coarse word,can be used instead).
- Shit! = Merda!
- turd = stronzo.
- What the hell do you want? = Che cavolo vuole?
Note:
- You are advised not to use this language yourself as it is likely to give offence, but you may find it useful to be able to understand it!
- It is especially difficult for non-native speakers to judge when such words can be used, how much offense it is likely to give, and what reaction it is likely to incur.
- Ask yourself how you would react to being sworn at by a foreigner, and try to find other ways of responding.
Gestures:
- The index and little finger sticking out from one’s fist, much used by motorists, indicates that the recipient is or has been cuckolded.
- It is approximately the equivalent of the two-finger sign used in Britain.
- Unless you are driving a fast car with plenty of petrol in it, it is better not to perform it and to ignore it if you are on the receiving end.
- The thumb and fingertips of one hand touched together and tapped two or three times to the forehead indicates that the person you are talking about, or the one you direct it to, is mad.
- This is also indicated by the index finger screwing the temple, whereas the latter gesture against one’s check means that the food is tasty.
- Biting one’s index finger held sideways in the mouth, pulling one’s hair scratching one’s face or hitting one’s fist into the palm of the other hand, are all signs of rage or anger.
- Raising one’s arm slowly, the hand reaching higher than the head and uttering a prolonged ‘eeeeh’ means ‘What an exaggeration!”
- With the palm held approximately downwards, rotating the hand back and forth two or three times means ‘about…. Apropos of this gesture, it is said that when people in Milan agree a time to meet they say the exact hour whereas in Rome they say ‘Let’s meet at about…