untitled design (1)

Learn Italian online

The English are Pompous Idiots, says Italy’s Senate Vice President Maurizio Gasparri

As you may well be aware, Italy managed to beat England 2-1 in Brazil last night. Emotions always run high in Italy when its national football team takes to the pitch and, it has to be said, Italians can be prone to a certain amount of post victory triumphalism.

Indeed, after Italy’s victory, Italian politician and member of convict Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, Maurizio Gasparri, got a little carried away; he went as far as insulting England and the English in a post victory comment on Twitter.

This is the offending, and offensive, tweet:

Maurizio Gasparri insults England on Twitter
Maurizio Gasparri insults the English on Twitter

The translation of this senior statesman’s tweet – “Fa piacere mandare a fare [in culo]…gli inglesi, boriosi e coglioni” is “It pleases me that those pompous idiot English got it up the…. [arse]” – the vulgar word for “bottom” was not used by Gasparri, but there’s another even more vulgar way in which Mr Gasparri could have ended his boorish comment. Whether he intended the more vulgar version, we shall probably never know.

Other translations of the Italian words “boriosi e coglioni” are “arrogant” and “arseholes”. Such an erudite chap is Mr Gasparri. And yes another interpretation, via the The Guardian, of senator Gasparri’s words is that he called the English ‘pretentious pricks’.

Should a senior politician of a nation lower himself to common insult and vulgarity after a football match? Quite a number of Italians who commented on Gasparri’s tweet did not think so. One Italian wag sarcastically commented that perhaps Mr ‘Tactful’ Gasparri might make a good foreign minister for Italy. What a great thought – world war three would be just around the corner!

think in italian logo dark bg 1

Stop reading, start speaking

Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.

Gasparri is one of those Italians who has never been too happy about Italy being liberated from fascism by the combined forces of the USA, the UK and Italian anti-fascist partisans. Italy’s victory was a convenient excuse for a little nastiness on his part.

Beware, Mr Gasparri, one more episode like that and MI6 might cause something about your past to come to light. Something you’d rather keep from public eyes – you probably know what this is.

Yes, the World Cup is a bit special and emotions do run high, but at the end of the day, it’s a game. Both winners and losers deserve equal respect. High ranking politicians like Italy’s Maurizio Gasparri should be setting good examples not bad ones.

UPDATE: Italian media is calling for Gasparri to resign and the UK’s Guardian has picked up on the story:

Italian politician under fire after labelling English ‘pretentious pricks’

 

Most Popular

The Lovely Liguria Coastline

Lovely Liguria

While not as well known as some areas of Italy, namely Tuscany, the Liguria region of Italy is

Is Italy’s Legal System about to Crumble?

Those of who have been following Italian news will know that an amendment to Italian law, which has now past both houses of the Italian parliament, will effectively put trials concerning serious offences committed before 30th June 2002 on hold for one year.

Categories

Related Posts

The Pope says sorry

Good, bit late, but at least he did apologise.  Still, it was an odd mistake for someone considered to be an ‘intellectual heavyweight‘ to make,