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Scotsitalian Board                  

 
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Whether over here or over there, what will the weather be in Edinburgh  or Rome.

A particular bizarre phenomenon, many Scots-Italian's will have experience of this mangled language where English words are often Italianised in conversation. As far as I know there isn't a name for this language so I'll call it Italglese.

Examples of such words such are:

A particularly weird one is Kettola which I once heard to describe a kettle (of which I am assured no direct translation in the Italian exists).

Peter Muccini, a frequent contributor to this site reveals his own experiences:

The older generation of Scots-Italians developed a sort of Creole language by adapting certain English words. One such word was pambrocco which I used in an essay at Glasgow University in 1947. My tutor, Enrico Cocozza (one of the famous Scots-Italians in this websites' list), told me it did not exist and the correct term was prestitore su pegno which is Italian for ‘pawnbroker’.  These neologisms included mencia as in mencia e patate (mince and tatties), pocco (as in un pocco di patate, a poke of chips) checca (cake), broscia (brush) and trampi (yobs or uncouth persons). My favourite is sfoccheggiare, a verb that describes Billy Connolly’s frequent use of the four-lettered word beginning with F and ending in K. Thus: sfoccheggiava come un matto (‘he was effing and blinding like a madman’ or ‘he was swearing like a trooper’).

A similar phenomenon exists where I live in south-west London. The Italians here are mainly from around Naples, Ischia and Calabria. One gave me his address as Salacocca Road which, on consulting the A-Z guide, turned out to be Selkirk Road. Other Italian-sounding places in the London region are Anaorta (Hanworth), Anzelo (Hounslow) and Emelemsi (Hemel Hempstead). Michele Sasso who runs a motor repair business and specialises in Ferrari and Porsches has his own vocabulary which, to my amazement, is understood by his British customers. Michele’s language features the Neapolitan practice of truncating words by knocking off the last syllable. Thus ‘a game of snooker’ becomes ‘a game of snook’. Michele’s business is called M&S Autos but when he answers the phone he says ‘Emanessot’. Michele has also Neapolitanised the English for vehicle components so that sciocasso is his version for ‘shock absorber’. 

For those of you looking for Italian translations of Scottish poems, Peter recommends the following website  http://www.la-poesia.it/stranieri/inglesi/inglesi-index.htm.

Many of the works have been undertaken by Adele Biagi who was born in Kilmarnock but returned to Barga, where her parents came from, when she was a young girl.