Brianzöo for dummies - Lesson 1

[gothikmaus]

I've wanted to make a post like this for some time. It's no secret I'm quite a language freak. On top of that, I adore dialects. My parents speak dialect most of the time and you could probably say Milanese dialect is their native language, not Italian (they pretty much learned standard Italian in school). I mostly speak Italian, but for some expressions I use dialect too, either because I'm so used to hearing them, or because there's no Italian equivalent.

Most of my foreign LJ friends probably never even heard Milanese dialect, so here are a few popular proverbs/expressions. By the way, this isn't the "real" Milanese pronunciation, but the one spoken in the northern area of the province, so I should probably call it "Brianzöo", not Milanese. Also, I don't know if I wrote everything correctly, as we don't really have a standard written form. For example, we have ö and ü sounds, someone uses the French equivalent (oeu and ue?), but since I didn't study French, I'll just use German umlauts. :P

Brianzöo for dummies - Lesson 1

- "La boca l'è minga straca, se la sa no de vaca" - Very famous proverb, it literally means "The mouth isn't tired, if it doesn't taste like cow", meaning you should always end a meal with a bit of cheese.

- "Se la va, la g'ha i gamb" - One of my mother's favourites (she actually uses a half-dialect, half-Italian version of it), it literally means "If it goes, it's got legs"; that is, if no one finds out what you did, then good for you.

- "Vegn giù dal murun!" - "Come down from the mulberry!", meaning "Open up your eyes!", "Wake up!"

- "Scarliga merlüsc!" - "Slip, cod!" aka "Keep away from me!"

There are many more, I'll post some of my favourite ones if anybody is interested.

Comments

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

You haven't heard of Perchta? I thought it's well known in Italy. ;)

Gossip? During lectures?!

Sure, and he's the one who always shows short clips out of movies or pictures he took himself. His seminars are great, you learn very much and it's a lot of fun. :D

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

No, never heard of it before. Maybe it's known in Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, but not in the area where I come from. :P

Well, that sounds interesting. Call me next time he organises a seminar. ;)

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

You can visit me and we go to see him next year. And I'll introduce you as a real Italian to him. XD

It's an Oswald von Wolkenstein seminar this time, so he's able to talk about his home every day. ;)

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

I am a total geek. I looked Oswald von Wolkenstein up on Wikipedia and, even if the Italian page is very, very short, I found out he was a member of the Order of the Dragon. That's all I need to know. XD

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

Streber!! XD

Yes, Oswald was a very interesting guy. The biography by Dieter Kühn "Ich Wolkenstein" is very good, if you want to know more. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hB7Lt7a4eI
One of his songs, we listened to it in the seminar.

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Come on, I couldn't ignore such an important detail! The Order of the Dragon, man! XD

[polarforscherin.livejournal.com]

And he was also member of the Order of the Cans. XD