Sometimes the Italian teenagers we meet
here are shy about trying out their halting English skills, even
though most of them study English several times a week. I’m sure
they’re afraid to make a brutta figura by mispronouncing
words or using bad grammar, a fear I completely understand but have, for
the most part, overcome. It is essential for us to communicate somehow, even if only
badly. Learning to laugh at oneself is an important life skill!
I recently had an article published in
Fra Noi, a Chicago-based magazine for Italian Americans, about
humorous blunders I’ve made or been told about. Several of
the stories came from our missionary friends Steve and Patti Gray,
and when I thanked them for their help, they told me two anecdotes
that I hadn’t heard before that are worth passing on.
Both were made by their friend and
co-worker Terry Paretti. On one occasion, he was introducing a
visiting pastor who had come from Germany, and he repeatedly used the
phrase pastore tedesco, which means German pastor. However,
pastore means shepherd, even though it can also refer to
the leader of a church flock, a pastor. Grammatically, it was
correct, but because of the famous breed of dog, a German pastor
should be referred to as “un pastore dalla Germania,” a
pastor from Germany. Terry’s reference elicited polite smiles from
his Italian-speaking audience each time he referred to the wonderful
dog who would soon be addressing the people.
The other instance also involves a
famous German, Martin Luther, who was the topic of one of Terry’s
sermons. In Italian, Luther’s name is Lutero. However, the accent
should be on the second syllable instead of the first, but Terry didn’t
know that, so he repeatedly mispronounced the name. This
wouldn’t have been worth mentioning, except that there is another
almost identical word, l’utero, with an accent on the first
syllable. Utero is uterus, so he gave a sermon on Martin the
Uterus.
The Fra Noi article is not available
for viewing online without a subscription, but I will scan in the
pages so you can at least see the fine artwork done by my niece Gina
(Spadoni) Lillie. Most of the stories in the article I’ve already
published in these two earlier blog entries, and it may be easier to
read them there:
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