For non-Italian speakers, I created a short video to explain the origin of the phrase ‘sti calici’!
Your wine lover friends will get a kick out of it for sure, as well as your Italy-obsessed travelers and foreign language nerds.
Contact me directly for tote bags just in time for the holidays un 2024!
@anniedivino / anniebshapero.com
https://anniebshapero.com
Check out the entire collection at the DiVino Store:
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Transcript:
I printed these tote bags just in time for the holidays! For those of you unfamiliar with Roman slang, I want to explain it to you!
There’s a special expression in Romanaccio, which is, for lack of a better word, the ‘vulgar’ Roman dialect.
When things don’t go as planned, or something goes wrong: like bad weather, a parking ticket, or getting your heel stuck in the cobblestones.
something annoying, but not devastating
Romans say:
e ‘sti cazzi.
It’s like when we say: Whatever. No big deal. Who cares.
At the root of the literal translation is an incredibly versatile Italian word, mostly for swearing. Tt’s not something they teach you in school and it’s not very elegant, so don’t show this video to your kids.
The word is Cazzo. In the plural form: Cazzi.
It means dick or dicks. ‘Sti Cazzi, is roman accent for questi cazzi, which means: these dicks.
But in this expression it means these things that happen that are annoying.
The Italian word for wine glass is: Calice
or calici in plural.
Put it together and ‘Sti calici means, these wine glasses!
‘sti calici is not only word play, it has a double meaning.
Another Italian phrase, “beviamoci sù or beviamoci soprà means: Let’s drink to that!
It can also be used sarcastically as if to say, let’s have a drink and forget about it.
I hope this has been helpful. Or at least interesting. You might also enjoy the fact that in Greek, Cazzo means to sit down. I certainly do.
Anyway, these totebags make make great gifts for the Italian wine lovers in your life.
Get in touch with me for pricing and how to get yours.
Cin cin!