This is an all English podcast, episode one thousand five hundred nine, Don't Be a Diva. Listen to today's episode about Italian words in English.

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Italian words and culture are a huge part of American English. Today we give you ten words that are used by native speakers in American English. How did their meanings change? Find out today.

Hey, Lindsay, how are you? Hey, Michelle, I'm good because we're recording the podcast and it's one of my favorite things to do.

So definitely. Oh, my gosh, me too.

And I'm excited for today's episode. We are bringing you a little bit of an Italian flair. Yes, I love Italy.

Oh, my gosh. Good food, good wine, beautiful people. What could be better?

Absolutely.

So, yeah, we are answering a question from Marco today.

Should we get into it? Yeah. But first, Michele, we do want to remind our listeners, where's the place to be on Saturday of this weekend?

Well, if you would like to hang out with me and with Aubrey. Aubrey. Oh, my gosh. Those opera.

Opera. Oh, yeah. There's no one of that name, man. Aubrey will be there, too. Not Aubrey. That's her. That's her evil twin.

So Aubrey and I will be on our Web class. This is day two. The last chance, I repeat, last chance to learn about slang in English, which is going to be super fun.

We had a great time, the last one, and we are looking forward to it this Saturday, January. Twenty third sign up is up all ears, English, dotcom, slang, SLA and G.

Yeah, just keep in mind, guys, when you do click on that by any two Saturday, that time is going to display in your local time. So we've had a lot of questions about what time, you know, what time is it? Is it a new U.S. time, East Coast time? It's in your time when you see it on the page in your browser. OK, very cool. Absolutely.

OK, so could you read Bakos question for us? Marco says, By the way, I've just listened to the new episode about French words, and if I can give you some advice, I feel it could be interesting to make an episode with words taken from Italian. Have a nice day, Marco. Good question, mark. Love it, too.

It's not just about French. No, it's not all about French. We love French, but it's also about Italian and all other languages. Anyway, if you want to know what episode Marco was referring to, it's episode fourteen fifty eight, which is this episode has a certain genius equa.

Yeah I love that. I love that.

We're going to have to come up with maybe a title in Italian today for this one Michel or I don't really speak Italian. Let's give it a try. Let's see.

Well you speak more than you think because there are so many words taken from Italian like so many. So this episode is a shout out to Italy. We love you, Italy. Yeah. I mean, Lindsay. So you said that you've been to Italy a couple times.

Couple of times, yeah, for sure. I would eat gelato for breakfast in Italy.

And you're a big ice cream person.

So do you do you prefer ice cream or gelato.

I think coming back to good old just like hard packed ice cream. I like that. The best or custard. Oh.

From the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.. But when I was in Italy, I loved the gelato.

So I know it's amazing there. So when I was in Italy, I don't remember.

I think they have on the menu like Prima Plata, OK, they have like a few different, you know, titles. And I thought that the Prima Plata was like an appetizer.

And so I thought that that like, I felt guilty not ordering something besides that first course. So I we I remember there was one night in Florence we had pasta is the prima Plata, and then we ordered this huge steak.

And what you really don't want is to have a huge steak coming and already be full because it was way too much.

So like that was kind of this awkward culture, cultural thing when I was traveling because I was not aware.

And yeah, I definitely learned. Luckily, it was towards the beginning of our trip.

So like I knew and that's hilarious. Michelle, did you get a weird look from the waiter or waitress when you ordered? I think so.

I mean, but I think it was probably like really like you you're going to eat all that. And yeah, I just didn't know.

And I felt like, OK, this is a little expensive, but I guess, you know, I mean, just like we all have these we all have these stories about traveling and like things in the culture that you like make a mistake with you end up getting a little embarrassed or eat the wrong thing or eat too much or something.

Oh, it's so funny. That happened to me in Paris. We sat down and I somehow ordered, like, all meat, like sausages and steak and the whole thing. The entire meal was meat.

And the woman, the waitress looked at me like, Are you sure you want that? That should have been the red flag. It should have been the right. I love that.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. You know what?

We should just have one episode devoted to, like, our funny or awkward travel stories. That would be hilarious. Yes.

We love you, though, OK? Yeah, that would be fun. All right. So so. Yeah, guys then. Oh, my gosh.

There is there's so many things that we use from Italian that are just embedded in that you don't even think about. I mean. So I'm going to put up a link where I got some of them on the on the blog. So the first one the first one that I was thinking was the word cheapish. Oh, yeah.

I remember hearing this on TV a lot in the past, like in the 90s. Yes, yes. Yes.

I remember from Full House and I'm just looking up the new and say that.

Who would say that? Which character, Joey or. No, it was it was it was Uncle Jesse, I thought. Yeah, because he kind of has like that look that slick look, sleek and cool dude, like kind of thrown out some slang, international slang. I like it. I like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I mean what does that mean. I mean I believe I mean in, in Italian I think it means the same thing. I'm just trying to look at it here. Yeah. It looks like it means like understand. But I think in English we use it actually a little bit differently.

How do we use it Michelle. I think we use it like agreed like or but in a way I guess that is like understand.

It's like understand. I understand.

Like I remember like Uncle House, you know, Uncle Jesse might say cheapish and then Michelle would say, Oh right, right, right.

So yeah exactly. We're going to have our listeners chime in, are telling listeners, guys, come over to Instagram us some comments or come straight to this blog post fifteen nine and let us know if we're on the right track here.

Yes, please. Because I tried to find the information, but there's no there's no better way to get information than from an actual Italian speaker then you not Google, right?

Well, yeah, that's true on one hand.

But actually, on the other hand, you know, as we said in the French episode, once a word crosses over into a new language, it sometimes takes on another meaning, true or another use. So in a sense, it's just interesting.

Like, it's not always going to be a direct translation, guys.

Yeah, right. True, true, true.

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And then another another word is diva. OK, what does this mean? I've always wondered about the meaning of this word. It's used a lot everywhere.

Yeah, and in English, we use it. I mean, the way that I most frequently use it, guys, I'm talking about how I how I hear things. So, of course, maybe I'll talk to someone who hears it in a different way.

But I hear divas kind of like like maybe like a famous celebrity who's like a snobby like or like maybe requires a lot of maintenance.

So things a lot of themselves. And they don't have to be famous. I mean, they could just be I mean I mean, I know some I know some divas, you know, and and and certain shows that I had been. And, you know, where it's kind of like you have this air of like a very important.

Yeah. Maybe kind of high maintenance, that idea.

Yeah. I see what you mean. I see what you mean. I like it diva. But it's everywhere.

It's used in music, movies, performers. Yeah.

Song song lyrics for sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah exactly. And there are some other meanings but that is the way that I hear it most frequently is. So again our Italian listeners let me know what it means, you know, in in Italian. Right. Definitely.

Definitely. That's a good one Lindsay. OK, now we're going to get into food and drink. Yeah.

So this is definitely where Italian could shine for sure. Yeah. Do you like Italian food by the way?

Oh, of course, Lindsay. Because who doesn't. Who doesn't. Yeah.

What's your favorite Italian dish. Just a side question. Good question.

I like cacio pepé pasta. Oh do you know that. No cheesy with pepper.

It's like I first had it in Italy when I was studying, studying abroad in London and I went to Florence for the weekend and it was the I always say that it was the best food I ever had in my entire life. It's basically like this like special pasta, just like what it's really like simple I think with like.

Yeah, butter and cheese and no. And it was so delicious. I think it was also like really fresh noodles. And when I was in Italy, when I was in Florence again, you know, it was like ten, almost ten years later. Sure.

Dan and I, I actually made him walk through many squares in Italy looking for this restaurant.

I couldn't find it, but I still that's my favorite. What about you?

I think I've always loved pesto. So that green sauce. I love that. I remember not in Italy, but actually in New York. That was a really, really great little Italian restaurant in the West Village. I think there Christopher Street, it was just on the corner, a little like twelve tables, a few tables on the sidewalk.

And just it was a very like, unpretentious place, you know, I mean, table wine, nice waiters. I don't know all those memories around Italian food, even in a place like New York City, which makes total sense because there's always been a lot of immigrants from Italy in New York.

Right. Right, right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. But I think it's funny because we say panini, like, even for a singular.

But I believe when I was in Italy, Cingular was Penny.

No, maybe I'll cut that again. So that's kind of interesting how the grammar might change. That makes sense, though.

I mean, when we take it over into English, we do change the meaning. Right. For sure. So you might order in English, you might order a panini. It's very common, like sandwich shops. You might order like I like mozzarella and tomato panini.

Personally, those are good. They're good. Yes. Yes. So another one is al dente day. OK, so this is about the consistency of the pasta.

OK, like a little bit chewy. OK, yeah.

I like like like it that way. I think most people like it that way rather than too soft or soft.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. And then if you are looking for an Italian restaurant you might say, oh, where's the trattoria. That actually might be like the name of a restaurant where it might describe itself as a trattoria.

Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I would ask, like, do you know any trattoria is I guess you might do that in English. I guess it's quite specific, though. Yeah, it is very specific. Yeah.

Well, it might be more that you like search for a restaurant and then you know, and then like in the description it might say like we're an Italian trattoria or something. Right.

For sure. They use it more to describe themselves in other words. Right. Yeah.

Yeah I think so. I think so.

And so I mean there's so much with food we could just do a whole episode, just about the food for sure. But also there's music, right.

So like alto, soprano, these are all words about like what pitch you sing in, like your your singing range forte, loud tempo, speed, ballerina, ballerina dance or like these are all Italian.

I mean we just use them without even thinking about it. Oh for sure.

I mean the the opera in general. Right. I think most opera singers have to learn Italian or end up singing in Italian if they're professionals. Right. So it's kind of very Italian dominated the opera. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

So I mean yeah. I don't think. About these words being Italian, because they're so common in the English language, but I think it's good to kind of go back and be like, wait, these are Italian words, guys, right.

So, Michel, you've done a little bit of singing right on your day. Do you have, like in in your line of singing? Did you identify your voice, like, whether it's an alto or is that old?

Yeah, I'm I'm like I'm an alto. OK, so I have like a lower female singing voice. More interesting. Yeah.

Although I was like sometimes a mezzo soprano, Switzer's, which is like between the two.

So also an Italian word I guess. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of in the middle. OK, good to know. Good to know. Fascinating. I love it. OK, so it's all about music versus so music. Food, the good things in life.

Right. Exactly. Yeah. What and I mean I think you know, I think the Italian culture is very loved in the United States. I mean, like we said, our food, the language, the people, the coffee.

Right.

Oh, completely. Oh my gosh. I love coffee. I love Italian coffee. The coffee culture, I guess. Yeah, you're right. In a way, Starbucks kind of took some concepts from Italian concepts and an understanding of what coffee culture is in Europe. And they brought it to the U.S. They created that in the US.

But but somehow, like, they changed it for sure, I think like they would change it. So, I mean, did you ever have the experience where you would get like a macchiato or some sort of drink at Starbucks and it's like this giant drink? Yeah. And when you were in Italy, it's like a tiny shot.

Imagine people going to Italy as tourists or getting mad thinking they're going to get a huge thing.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, a lot of Italians probably don't like that.

I mean, I know the fact that Starbucks kind of did that they took the Italian, but it's not Italian coffee culture at all. It does provide a place for people to do work, meetings and work. But it's not really about sitting around coffee and connecting with friends at Starbucks.

Not so much.

Right, right. Right, right, right. Exactly. I mean, I remember people standing up at counters and drinking coffee. I mean, there was a vending machine for coffee, like good coffee by my hotel, I remember in Rome.

So it's a it's very interesting.

I mean, we could do a whole episode on coffee culture around the world. Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I guess the I guess the Italian coffee culture is more in the morning about standing and drinking your shot quickly. I guess there's a lot to learn about world coffee cultures.

There is. So, guys, you can see that there's so much Italian in the English language we use all the time. So, Lindsay, should we do a role play?

Yeah, let's do a fun little role play so you guys can really see how it's embedded in our language. So let's do it. What are we doing here, Michel?

All right. So we are food critics, of course, going we are talking about a restaurant that we just went to.

OK, here we go. So I love that panini. I had the panini that I had at the trattoria. Did you like your food? Yeah. Yeah, it was good.

I love I love my pasta al dente. And mine was definitely al dente and I loved that they have a little quartet singing. It made for a great atmosphere.

Yes. The alto and soprano were the best, don't you think.

Yeah, but I think that soprano was a little bit of a diva actually. She wasn't very nice when I spoke to her at the end. Oh that's too bad.

OK, so it gets a good review. Cheapish puppyish. OK, I love it. I love it.

OK, so what we use here. So I said that I loved my panini that I had at the trattoria and again that's a kind of a restaurant.

What I'll else Michel, I said that I like my pasta al dente and mine was definitely al dente so it shows that I liked it.

Mm. Exactly. And then I said the alto and the soprano were the best so I personally don't think I'd be able to pick out, I don't really know enough about music to know like who has an alto who is a soprano voice. But it's good to know these things. A little bit of culture here serves us well. Definitely.

Definitely. And then I said, I think that Soprano was a bit of a diva.

So saying like she thought a lot of herself, yeah, I love it.

And then I said, OK, we're so we're going to give them a good review, cheapish. And you also love it. Oh, gosh.

Before we have our take away, Michele, what should we remind our listeners about come hang out with not Aubrey, OK, but Aubrey and me at our Web class. Last chance, January. Twenty third sign up at all is English dot com slash slang, SLA and G.

Yeah. And the key word is last chance again guys. It won't be as it is. You will never see it again if you miss it today. On Saturday. All right. We'll see you guys there. Thanks, Michele. Good episode today. Thanks, Linsey. This was fun. Yeah. Take care. Talk to you soon. All right. Bye bye.

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