Sunday, February 19

Ciao, ciao bambina...

I always cringe whenever I see the latest advertisement sporting English words.  I walk into my bank and find them advertising a M'Honey account, replete with a jar of honey - as if any of their 2+ million pensioners would even know that honey = miele and what either of the terms have to do with money (maybe it rhymes? at least in English).  The Telecoms cos. are no worse off:  you can now go to VodafoneYOU or open a TIM Young package.  I often wonder if any of the customers even know what the words mean.  Adverts aside, I do now get a kick whenever I hear Italians answer each other with a resounding "Yes" - just for emphasis.  


But if I had to pinpoint any single word, it's "Ciao" that has taken the world by a storm.


Everyone uses Ciao seemingly everywhere.  Little did I know that it was handed down from the Venetian Republic, and meant pretty much the opposite of what we would ever think its meaning would be:  s-ciào su literally meaning, "I am your slave".  The closest thing I think that comes to this is the original meaning of the Hindi Namaste = I bow to you. 


And while Wikipedia indicates that it was Ernest Hemingway who first introduced it into the English lexicon, I would suppose that Italian immigrants were saying it long before that happened (1929).  But it was probably not until the 1960s when Jerry Vale crooned with his big hit that people started using it, with gusto.


In any case, not only could you once find a Ciao eatery in Italy, you can now find one as far away as Kuala Lampur or read from Ciao! an Australian trendy rag, or even watch a love story movie about two gay men.  But you really know Ciao has gone mainstream in the USA, following in the footsteps of pasta and cappuccino, when a restaurant in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona is called Cowboy Ciao Restaurant.  Incredibly, this establishment even poses the WTH question on their very own web page -- asking why they would call themselves in this way, when they offer up good American "eclectic" cooking.  According to their website, one reviewer called it Addams Family meets Old West bordello...As they say back in Northern Italy, "Ciao" indeed.*


*From Wikipedia:  The word ciào is still used in Venetian and in the Lombard language as an exclamation of resignation, as in Oh, va be', ciào ("Oh, well, never mind!").



7 comments:

Jacques said...

I think Wikipedia is a bit off here, at least regarding current Venetian dialect. The exclamation/interjection as described is actually a much briefer sounding "ciò", with no "a" sound discernible.

Dave514 said...

Francesca:
My late wife and I went to "Cowboy Ciao" several times. Unless they changed the menu....yuck!.

Ciao,

Davide

Sarah Mastroianni said...

Great post! Very interesting tidbits. Love your blog!

Irreverent Italy said...

Jacques-as our in-house Venetian, thanx for that! Now go fix it on wikipedia...!

Sarah-Grazie mille!

Davide-what were you thinking???!!! Anyplace described as Addams family meets anything else...well...

Dave514 said...

Francesca:
But that was way back in 1996/7.


Davide

katie hanson said...

so interesting! i feel like we use that word here in the US kind of pretentiously... :/

also, i mentioned your blog in my latest post here: http://www.kateandoli.com/2012/02/ciao-bella.html

take care!
katie
kateandoli.com

Irreverent Italy said...

BTW Katie-If you go to my early posts (2007ish), they're more about cultural differences vs daily events
...and then, there's always my handy user's manual to Italy, my book Burnt by the Tuscan Sun!

Buon Viaggio -