mondosapore

REAL ENGLISH 53

BATH

[pronuncia americana: bèth; britannica: baath]

BATHE

[béjdh]

bath = bagno.

In Inghilterra si dice "bath" per verbo come per sostantivo. Sembra stranissimo all'orecchio americano il che distingue sempre "bath" da "bathe". 

Quindi da questo lato dello stagno ("on this side of the pond," cioè l'Oceano Atlantico) si dice sempre:

I took a bath.

    Mi sono fatto un bagno.

When we were children we bathed [béjdhd] every day.

    Come bambini ci bagnavamo tutti i giorni.

Questo "bathed" sembra un arcaismo americano. Spesso una lingua coloniale ritiene caratteristiche delle quali la lingua della Patria s'è sciolte.

REAL ENGLISH 52

DUE

[duu, djuu]

= "dovuto", ovviamente dal francese medioevale. Si sente e si legge spesso abbastanza in America, suppongo grazie alla presa e al prestigio degli avvocati in questo sciagurato paese. 

When is the bill due?

    "Quando è pronta la fattura?"

It's overdue. Pay up!

    "E' in ritardo! Pagate!"

Mi piace quando una persona dice, "With all due respect" (Con tutto il rispetto dovutoLe)...

With all due respect, sir, I think you need to reconsider the implications of the problem.

    Traduzione intesa:

    "Signore, Lei è veramente una pirla e dovrebbe riconsiderare le sciocchezze che propone Lei."

     

 

REAL ENGLISH 51

lend

loan

Direi che, se si scrivesse e parlasse perfettamente, "lend" sarebbe solamente verbo e "loan" solamente sostantivo. Infatti, i  ruoli di queste voci vanno in cerca d'autore oppure un'usanza definitiva.

LEND = dare in prestito

Will you lend me this book?

    Mi darai in prestito questo libro?

I lent you this book two months ago!

    Ti ho dato in prestito questo libro due mesi fa!

(NB: la forma "forte" o irregolare del passato. 

LOAN si traveste da sostantivo in verbo. E' proprio un "back formation" (non so come lo si dice in italiano -- vuol dire un sostantivo che viene usato come verbo, ed è quasi sempre in una forma "debole" o regolare).

We got a home loan from the bank.

    "Ottenemmo un mutuo dal banco."

It's just a loan, not a gift!

    "E' un prestito, non un regalo!"

Comunque, vestito da verbo diventa un sinonimo di LEND:

Jane loaned Matthew her car.

    "Giovanna ha prestato la macchina a Matteo."

Matthew didn't think it was a loan.

    "Matthew non pensava che fosse in prestito."

REAL ENGLISH 50

gas up

[gèssàp]

passato: gassed up

[gèstàp]

Rifornire la macchina di benzina. Anche figurativamente: per es., di birra.

We gassed up outside of Gallup, New Mexico. On Route 66.

    "Abbiamo fatto il pieno vicino a Gallup, New Mexico. Su Route 66."

 

REAL ENGLISH 49

gear up

[ghiiràp]

Verbo preposizionale dal significato "prepararsi" sia con attrezzi sia psicologicamente. Ugualmente usato in forma reflessiva.

Si sente spesso nella lingua parlata americana.

The soldiers geared up for battle.

    "I soldati si prepararono per la battaglia."

They had to gear [themselves] up for another dismal week at the office.

    "Dovettero prepararsi per un'altra settimana nera all'ufficio." 

     

REAL ENGLISH 48

poop

[puup]

Vari significati, come "poop deck" (ponte di poppa). Ma il significato quotidiano americano è il linguaggio dei bambini per cacca (sì, proprio "popò" all'italiana). 

Quindi i bambini che imparano a essere "toilet trained" ( = insegnati a usare il vasino), gridano con orgoglio, "Mommy, I pooped!" o "I made poopoo!" (Mamma, ho fatto popò!)"  Non lo si dichiara quando il carino ha fatto sporchi i panni.

Tutto il mondo è veramente paese.  O cesso.

Attenzione!

Un altro significato è "diventare, fare o essere stanchissimi" --

I got up too early. I'm pooped.

    "Ero sveglio molto presto. Sono stanco mooooorto."

Anche: poop out = perdere energia

Susan pooped out at the party.

    "Susanna ha perso energia al party."

Quindi capirete il gioco di parole in una canzone popolarissima degli anni 40:

    I'm too pooped to pop, / And baby, I ain't lyin'

    "Sono troppo stanco a fare l'amore / E, baby, non ti dico bugie"

 

REAL ENGLISH 47

play it by ear

[pléjit baj iir]

Espressione diffusissima in America (forse anche in Regno Unito, non lo so). 

Significato: Non programmiamo adesso, improvvisiamo al momento giusto.

I'm not going out if it's raining like this tonight.

"Non esco se diluvia tanto stasera."

    Let's play it by ear.

    "Aspettiamo a stasera. Forse farà meglio." oppure: "Non decidiamoci propri'ora."

C'è sempre un elemento della mamma che dice ai bambini, "Vedremo."  

 

REAL ENGLISH 46

MILF

Sigla per Mother I'd Like to Fuck = Madre che vorrei chiavare

Apparita pochi anni fa, questa sigla è ormai molto diffusa sia scritta che parlata. [pronuncia 'milf']. Detta da giovani a cui piacciono le donne piuttosto mature.  

"What do you think of Terri Hatcher?"

Cosa ne pensi di Terri Hatcher?

"MILF."

Forse sono vecchio da morire ma mi fa schifo questa espressione.

 

REAL ENGLISH 45

THROUGH

THOROUGH

Attenzione! Queste voci possono farvi problemi, come fanno per noi. Leggete piano!

THROUGH [θruu] = attraverso, tramite, per, per mezzo di, dall'inizio alla fine, via dicendo

The woman walked through the garden.    La donna andò per il giardino.

I sent it through the mail. L'ho mandato tramite la posta.

He saw through my denial.  Penetrò la mia smentita.

Joanne watched us through the window. Giovanna ci ha guardati per la finestra.

THOROUGH [θaro] = completo, a fondo, esauriente, dettagliato

The doctor gave me a thorough examination. Il dottore mi ha fatto un esame esauriente.

We just had a thoroughly disappointing dinner.    Abbiamo appena avuto una cena profondamente deludente. 

REAL ENGLISH 44

NICE

[najs]

= voce troppo usata per "bello," "gentile", "simpatico," "carino," ecc., ecc.

Perché la parola è ormai un cliché di prim'ordine, è diventata un'espressione ironica:

nice talk =  dici troppe parolacce

a nice girl (enfasi sull'aggettivo con intonazione alzante)     = vergine

nice job! =  hai incazzato tutto

it's a very nice home = è una casa da mafioso, i.e., volgarissima

that's a nice way to ask for something     =  hai pessime maniere, sei scortese da morire

NYT "anything goes" Thanksgiving pairing post: Still up-ending wine journalism

As you may know, I penned a sarcastic post on November 12 (click here) about the fatuity of turkey-and-jello-marshmallow-salad-type wine pairings, inspired by the admission of the august New York Times that "Finding good Thanksgiving wines may be a lot easier than you think." (Click here for the article that started it all.)

Blogger response to my post ranged from dismissive (Frankly My Dear) to the "chortling" and "chuckling" variety (Do Bianchi). I especially appreciated Jeremy Parzen's use of the subjunctive ("Lest he think..."), not to mention the context which inspired it.

I can't speak for Eric Asimov or his tasting panel of radicals, but I received a torrent of emails and Tweets from anguished wine journalists, or aspiring ones (5). I received many more (2) from simple consumers. All were angry, confused, upset.

Typical of the consumers' ire was this note from Marcia Watson of Watson Holler, NC: "Damn you New York City smart-asses! I was all set to serve a nice little Chenin Blanc from the Loire, France, with my turkey BUT YOU HAVE THROWN ME INTO CONFUSION. I guess it's back to beer and ice tea. Speaking of tea, now I understand the fury of the tea-baggers. Jerk!"

Here's a heart-wrenching email that I got just yesterday from Ivan Scurry of the Council Bluffs Dispatch & Dollar Trader:

Dear Mr. Strappo,

I know you don't mean to hurt people with your sarcastic wit, but you've caused one more American journalist to enter the lists of the unemployed. Me.

You see, I've been the wine writer and reviewer for the paper since 1976. Or, rather, I was.

I started out with a bang.  They loved my columns on what to drink at the Bicentennial*, and it led to the full-time union job with great benefits that I had until this week. I built my entire professional life around wine reviews and pairings for the holidays. I prepared from July, tasting, noting, eating and drinking various pairings. I did it with patience, dedication and good old Midwestern methodicalness. Oh, we aren't exciting or trend-setting out here. We're just hard-working regular people who want a good day's pay for a good day's work.

Thirty-three years I plied my craft, I honed my profession. I wrote a seminal work on Iowan wineries and wine personalities. That's a third of a century, Mr. Strappo. A working man's lifetime. I was young. Now I'm old. 

And I was happy. I had a place in the world. People knew me in the street. Sometimes even when I crossed over to Omaha. My very presence seemed to bring a smile to every face.

Now they turn away. I am nobody. My career and life are in ruins. Thanks to you and those "trendy" folks at the New York Times. People who don't take seriously the struggles of ordinary Americans in the Heartland to wean themselves off of lite beer and cola drinks. People who forget how hard it was to gain all that wine knowledge in the first place.

Management used your words as the hammer to beat me with. "Goodbye, Ivan. Call us next week. Maybe you can freelance for us." 

I'd kill myself. But I'm already dead.

Jerk.

Sincerely,

Ivan Scurry

* In the acclaimed "Bicentennial wines" series of columns Mr. Scurry created the "All Americans Wine Rainbow", which consisted of 100% American-grown and made wines with names that honored different American ethnic groups. It was a surprisingly inclusive list, featuring such favorites as Gallo Hearty Burgundy, Sebastiani Green Hungarian, Carlo Rossi Chianti, Manischewitz Concord Grape (a clever bow to both Jewish and white-bread small-town WASPs) and Richards Wild Irish Rose wine. It remains a masterpiece to this day.

      

 

Looking ahead

What will 2010 be like for Italian wine in the US?

Like 2009. Only more so.

Everyone's been hoping for a big rebound in 2010, but early indications are that the market will not snap back to "normal."  Retailers and restaurateurs in New York-New Jersey keep pushing for lower-cost wines; except for holiday gift shopping, the mantra will continue to be "under $20."  

With the weaker dollar, this has important ramifications for producers, importers, customers. 

Producers need to get serious about discounts. I'll go beyond that and recommend they lower their pricing domestically as well. Italian consumers are scraping by these days. Aspirational pricing is no longer feasible, and fashion should follow feasibility. In terms of international competitiveness, Italian producers must lower prices or continue to lose market share to the South Americans. (Talk about an ignominious fate.)

The Grim Discounter

I just got a price list from a Piedmontese producer who assured me that the 20% discount he offered was the best deal he'd offered any US importer. But 7 euros for a Nebbiolo d'Alba reduced to 5.60 -- it's not an attractive price. It would end up on local shelves for, what, $25? I wrote the poor guy back and suggested we start talking at a 30% discount. 

Another Piedmontese producer understood right away, proposing something close to a 50% discount. He's sitting on a lot of wine. Forget dreams of getting rich. These days it's about enough cashflow to pay the bills.

As a consequence, importers have to get very picky. 

How many times have I heard of such-and-such an importer who has an excellent book, but whose wines are too expensive for today's conditions?  And how many times have I heard of the distributors who represent them slashing prices to an extent that undermines the entire market for, say, Brunello? 

May I tell you that it didn't take a genius to see two years ago that the economy was overheated and was going to experience a hard landing? We saw it coming, and we're hardly Paul Krugman. Our mistake was to underestimate the depth of the depression or "Great Recession" -- which was what they called the Great Depression for its first couple of years. We thought $25 would be the cut-off, not $20 or even less, as it is now.

So we, too, have some very good wines that must be discounted for clearance. Whether we reorder from the producers in question is a matter of their realism on pricing. If they remain fixed on their 2007 prices, then ciao ciao, bambini.

Customers -- our customers, the retailers and restaurant guys -- are having their own brand of hard times. All you have to do in New York is look at the exalted restos that offer deeply discounted prix fixe menus, or those which have changed their name, menu and price points to cope with the new reality. One startling example is David Burke's new eatery on the Upper East Side, FishTail. It focuses on seafood and posts prices far less extravagant than its sister restaurant one block south, David Burke's Townhouse.

Plenty of these guys are just scraping by because their clientele no longer has the money or stomach for $100+ bottles at restaurant table or $40 ones at home. They want a nice bottle with dinner, but they're willing to trade down. And in many cases, no doubt, discovering that the bottle costing one-half what they used to pay is really about as good as the expensive one. The inevitable thought will occur: "Why should I go back to spending more than I need to?"

For those of us who haven't received any TARP money, this mentality is going to persist a long long while.