Gratuitous Italian: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

== [[Fan Fics]] Creazioni Originali dei Fan ==

** Also, the Cures' names are Italian translations of "God", "Key", "Alien", "Time", and "Psychic", and there are several Italian words and phrases scattered throughout the series in miscellany (including "Capisce?").

 

== [[Literature]] Letteratura ==

* An early use of gratuitous Italian is in ''[[Emma]]'', where the crass new wife of Mr. Elton constantly calls her husband her "cara sposo". The phrase is grammatically incorrect (it should be "caro sposo") and was in Austen's time a tired old catchphrase, but this was deliberate: Austen was sending up Mrs. Elton as a badly-educated social climber. (Strangely, some editions of ''Emma'' correct the spelling, probably because the editors are ignorant of Austen's intentions.)

{{quote| This damn door sticks<br />

This damn door sticks<br />

It's marked "Pull" and indeed I am pulling<br />

Perhaps it should be marked "Push"? }}

 

== [[Live Action TV]] Televisione ==

* Sofia from ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' constantly spouted off gratuitous Italian (or Sicilian) phrases, especially when riled or passing on a proverb.

* Mid 90s European videogames TV channel [[Game Network]] broadcast all over the continent in a number of languages from Italy. The channel's news programme at one stage would read stories alternately in English and Italian. This may/may not be [[Gratuitous English]].

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', one of the Tenth Doctor's many catchphrases is "Molto bene!"

* [[Friends]] has Joey Tribbiani who, as an italo-american, often utters random Italian sentences, and a lot of Italian sounding gibberish.

 

== [[Manga]] e [[Anime]] ==

* Izumi from ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' uses Italian exclamations from time to time. She moved to Italy at a young age, and had only recently come back to Japan. [[Catch Phrase|Commozione~]]

* Parco Folgore in ''[[Gash Bell]]''.

* The [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Numbers]] [[Hollywood Cyborg|Cyborgs]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', [[You Are Number Six|whose names are the numbers]] one to twelve in Italian, except for Sein -- the actual Italian word for six is "sei", without the n.

* Another ''[[One Piece]]'' example: [[Chessmaster|Sir Crocodile]] uses gratuitous Italian (as well as English, Spanish, and French) in most of his attack names. Badly, at least in the Italian publication, where it's mixed with English: "Ground Secco" ("secco" means "dry") and "Desert Spada" ("spada" means "sword") and "Desert Girasole" ("Sunflower"). In the original Japanese, Crocodile says "Deserto Spada" or "Deserto Girasole". Though this could be interpreted just as Engrish gibberish, it's also true that "deserto" is the ACTUAL Italian word for desert. It must be noted though that the real Italian expression for "Desert sword" would not be "Deserto spada"; rather, "Spada del deserto".

** Both the openings for the sound novels and the anime have lyrics in Italian.

** Beatrice's name is said the Italian way. ("Bay-ah-tree-chay" as opposed to the more Americanized "Bee-uh-triss.")

** Divine Comedy references abound.

** And ''much'' more.

* [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]] and its [[Spin Offs]] [[Puella Magi Kazumi Magica]] and [[Puella Magi Oriko Magica]] are this in terms of [[Calling Your Attacks]]. [[Cool Big Sis|Mami Tomoe]] of the parent series is the biggest, {{spoiler|and then in Kazumi Magica had the main magical girl Kazumi copying from her which in turn her fellow Pleiades Saints are copying from her.}}

 

== [[Role Playing Games]] Giochi di Ruolo ==

 

== [[Theatre]] Teatro ==

 

== [[Video Games]] Videogiochi ==

** [[Played for Laughs]] in [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/23/ this] ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' comic. And it still manages to sound [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|sexy and badass]]. Read it aloud in your best / worst Italian accent for the full effect.

* In ''[[Strange Journey]]'', the demon Horkos will tend to yell "[[Large Ham|BUONO]]!" no matter whether he's being hit or if he's eating.

* [[Persona 2|Maya]] likes saying "Ciao!" and "Grazie!" a lot.

* Used [[Did Not Do the Research|badly]] in ''[[Devil May Cry]] 2'' with the "Arcana" [[MacGuffin]]. First, in Italian the noun precede the adjective (so it should be Spada Arcana or Medaglia Arcana). Second, Calice and Bastone are male nouns, so they should be "Arcano". Last but not least, the plural form would be "Arcani". Then again, this is [[Crazy Awesome|Devil May Cry]], so they probably didn't care too much.

* In the first ''[[Metal Slug]]'', there is a level set in Italy. One of the signs on the shops in the background says "Liutaio", or luthier, another says "Carne", or meat, and there is a "Posta", which is the post office. However, there is also a "Kocher", and a "Playa" which means beach in Spanish, so make what you will of that.

 

== [[Web Original]] Creazioni Originali della Rete ==

 

== Web Fumetto ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] Cartoni Animati ==

* [[The Simpsons]] has an episode set in Italy, specifically in Tuscany in the small country of "Salsiccia" (Sausage). However it was [[Did Not Do the Research|used incorrectly.]] Sorry, but "Plagiarismo" and "Mayore" aren't the Italian for Plagiarism and Mayor.<ref>which are instead "Plagio" and "Sindaco".</ref> Of course, that episode is fond of errors.

** The German version of the enraged cook's cry against Homer in ''Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner'' includes Italian swearing. And not just a random swearing, but one that will get you instantly banned from any show on Italian TV, as actors and local Big Brother contestants found out at their own expenses. Despite it being one of the most common utterances in Real Life Italy.<ref>Hint:The word used was a bestemmia.</ref>

== [[Real Life]] Vita Reale ==

* Classical music terminology runs on this trope as well as [[Gratuitous German]], but specifically, Italian tends to be the universal language for sheet music markings, including the tempo (itself an Italian loan-word), dynamics, and various technique markings. Which means musicians across the world know at least a few words in Italian, like ''forte'' (loud) and ''presto'' (very fast).

* [[Japanese]] took the Italian as their idol in soccer, and is very likely to integrate Italian in their names. Just check [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Category:Football clubs in Japan|list of Japanese pro soccer teams]] and how many were inspired by the Italian language...