Buondì.

In Wednesday’s article I mentioned a rude gesture from Dante.

However, being British not Italian, I admit to not being an expert on gestures, except for the one with the middle finger, of course.

What’s more, I was in rather a rush that day, and failed to properly research the subject, which I have now done…

So, the ‘Dante gesture’, otherwise known as the ‘Gesto delle fiche’ (I got that part right, at least) is illustrated on this page. Best not show the pre-schoolers that one.

Whereas the one I was thinking of can be seen at minute 2:55 of this video and is described as ‘Che vuoi?’

Go straight to that part if you’re pushed for time as the voiceover at the beginning of the video is quite hard to follow ( scroll to minute 2:55 ). From that point on, do watch a while – the actress is really good!

For anyone interested in gestures, some Italian teacher actually wrote a book about them and has done the obligatory series of YouTube videos to promote it.

Be warned: he’s included just about every possibility, so the videos are quite long. Take a look at the first one, if you have time – see how many of them you already know…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkTzU971Y9o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEhLURFsfSg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Br2-K8UaA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyEQduTwbNM&feature=related

So there. Hope that makes up for Wednesday’s inattention.

No? Ma cosa vuoi?? [Gesto delle fiche]

The Autum/Fall Sale is looming: get off the list!

Next week there’s the Autumn/Fall Sale at our online shop, EasyReaders.org, which means 20% off everything – ebooks, online Italian lessons, the works!

I’ll be emailing daily to remind regular students to stock up on lesson credits and to persuade people who aren’t yet studying with us to give it a go, while it’s cheaper!

Don’t want to buy ebooks and/or online Italian lessons? That’s no problem – just ignore the sales pitch and use the many free resources at https://onlineitalianclub.com/ and https://easyitaliannews.com/.

Or perhaps you’re longer interested in learning Italian? In which case, please UNSUBSCRIBE.

It takes just a few seconds to remove your email from the club’s mailing list – there’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every emailed article. In the footer of the email, you’ll see this:

Daniel
OnlineItalianClub.com
Tregarth
The Gounce
Perranporth Cornwall TR6 0JW
UNITED KINGDOM

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

Click on the Unsubscribe option (not the one above, the one at the bottom of this email…) and you’ll get a page that looks like this:

Modıfy the ‘radio button’ from ‘Subscribed’ to ‘Unsubscribed’, by clicking on it, then scroll down. Look to the right and you’ll see a large, blue button, which looks like this:

Press that one and you’re done.

No more email.

Of course, that way you’ll miss the Autumn/Fall Sale…

P.S.

Almost forgot! More Dante: Canto XXVI

In which Dante meets Ulysses. Gotta be worth a look see.

The whole series is on our Literature page.

A lunedì, allora!

Buondì.

Today’s Dante extract (Canto XXV) has helpful instructions from our culture expert, Francesca, on how to do the obscene gesture that one of the damned souls makes towards heaven above. It’s one you see all the time here in Italy, yet only now do I realise what it signifies!

In questo canto [Vanni Fucci – a thief from Florence] bestemmia Dio facendo un gestaccio contro il cielo. Il gestaccio in questione consiste nel tenere chiuso il pugno e mettere il pollice tra il dito medio e l’anulare, in modo da ottenere una forma simile ai genitali femminili (volgarmente: “fica”).

Got that? Keep your fists loosely-closed (and facing upwards, though Francesca doesn’t specify so in the text above), touching the tip of the thumb of each hand to the point between the ends of the middle and ring fingers. If you turn your fist sideways and squint at it, you’ll see that the enclosed space resembles a fig, a shape supposedly similar to female genitals. Now stop squinting and wave your upturned fists furiously at someone who deserves your ire.

Sadly, my wife tells me (when I tested it on her) that nowadays it means “What are you saying?” (or in English, W.T.F.?)

It’s not obscene at all, she insists – the meaning must have changed since Dante’s day. But the poet himself is shocked by it! And the gesticulator gets carried off by snakes.

Canto XXV | Literature page

E poi…

This week it’s EasyItalianNews.com‘s first birthday! And I wrote an article, in Italian, for yesterday’s bulletin (my first!)

So I can’t resist copying/pasting it here:

Auguri EasyItalianNews.com!

Questa settimana
è il nostro compleanno:
EasyItalianNews.com
compie 1 anno!

La prima edizione
di notizie ‘semplificate’
è stato pubblicata
dodici mesi fa,
il diciotto settembre 2018.
Puoi leggerla qui.

Ora quasi quattromila persone
in tanti paesi
ricevono tramite email
ogni edizione
di EasyItalianNews.com
Bravi a tutti voi
che leggete
e ascoltate!

Per festeggiare
abbiamo preparato un ebook
con tanti articoli interessanti
pubblicati durante
il nostro primo anno.

Oggi manderemo UNA COPIA GRATUITA,
come gesto di ringraziamento,
a tutti i lettori
chi ci hanno aiutato
donando piccole o grandi cifre.

L’ebook
è anche disponibile
nel negozio online.
Scarica ora
il campione gratuito (.pdf).
Puoi stamparlo
oppure leggerlo su computer,
tablet o smartphone.

The gist of the above is that EasyItalianNews.com is now a toddler and to celebrate we’ve put together a ‘best of’ ebook containing a selection of stories from the first year. You can download a free sample (.pdf) and buy the full version from our online shop.

But…

If you were one of the generous people who donated money to support EasyItalianNews.com over the last 12 months, then we have already sent you instructions on how to get a free copy (by way of thanks!)

But but…

You may not have received the email. In which case, just write to me, something along the lines of ‘I donated to EIN but didn’t get the free copy email. Can you help?’

And I will be glad to. It would save time if you could remember which email address you used with Paypal when you donated, and let me know what it was.

At this point I can imagine people all over the world, the ones who didn’t send us cash, touching the tips of their thumbs to the ends of their  middle and ring fingers and raising their upturned fists at me!

Never mind. We might repeat the free ebook thing next year, when we are two.

A venerdì, allora.

Oh, nearly forgot! Ciao to Manju, a big Dante fan apparently, who’s currently studying at our school.

She just came up to introduce herself while I was sat in the corridor writing this.

Anyway, she told me she was planning to take some more online lessons with the club, and was just about to buy a pack of 10.

And I said…

NO! WAIT!

Next week we have our Autumn Sale!

Everything will be 20% off!

Why pay more?

There, so now you know too.

And actually, I think Lucia is planning to send out the discount code to existing students a few days early…

Best of EasyItalianNews.com 2018-19 | FREE sample (.pdf) | Shop | Catalog | EasyItalianNews.com