Italian Words Maltese People Love To Use
As we all know, Malta is in the centre of the Mediterranean, which is practically at the centre of the world, and we all know that our planet is the most important one in the Universe, so that basically makes Malta the centre of the Universe.
Besides doing wonders for our self-esteem, this has brought a certain cultural legacy with it. Since we’re basically that bollard in the middle of the pavement that every pushchair must negotiate, over the centuries we’ve been conquered by approximately everybody, as we are all well aware from our schoolday history lessons.
One country which has (so far) not taken over our islands, if you conveniently ignore the Roman Empire, is Italy. However, our close proximity to this boot-shaped nation has moulded our way of life to a marked degree, and one way in which this is apparent is our language. Suffice it to say that until 1934, Italian was an official language in Malta.
The remnants of this can be seen when perusing any form of legal document, since lawyers in Malta have taken it upon themselves to seamlessly infuse Maltese legalese with as many Italianised words as humanly possible.
However, there are some examples which even us mere mortals avail ourselves of. Here are some Italian words and phrases that Maltese people love to (over)use.
Meno male!
Darlene: “Dix-xita qabbzithieli! U qgħadt naghmel cut and blow dalgħodu. Meno male eh!”
Pictured above: Darlene
Se mai…
Ramona: “U le oħt, ċuċata għamilt. Se mai missek għamilt naqra highlights minflok!”
Pictured above: Ramona
Tale quale!
Darlene: “Ma tantx għoġobni dal-hairdresser insomma. Infaqt 50 Ewro biex ġabli xagħri tale quale!”
Ossia…
Ramona: “Jien ma nħobbx nonfoq daqshekk f’xagħri, ossia nippreferi nonfoq il-flus f’delizzji oħrajn.”
Ormai…
Darlene: “Bħal xiex? Ormai ma fadallix gost ħlief għal xagħri!”
Pressapoco
Ramona: “Le jien qbadt hobby ġdid! Ilni pressapoco xahrejn issa nittanta s-sagristan!”
Ma che?
Darlene: “X’qed tagħmel, ja miġnuna?! Tittanta s-sagristan ukoll…ma che!”
Sopra corna bastonate
Ramona: “U x’ma nittantax! Ir-ragel sar daqshiex u sopra corna bastonate, beda jboss fis-sodda!”
Kif u come…
Darlene: “Imma ma das-sagristan x’tagħmel? Ma rridx inkun naf il-kif u come, ta!”
Mamma mia!
Ramona: “Mamma mia, kemm tinkwieta! Mela xi ħsibtni?”
Uccello di mal augurio
Darlene: “U oqgħod attenta ta! Mhux biex inkun uccello di mal augurio, imma x’tagħmel jekk ibellagħlek xi infection?”
Is-sì u n-no
Ramona: “Hux infection infection! Nittantah biss qegħda, ta. Għax meta naslu għas-sì u n-no, ma jkun irid jagħmel xejn!”
Beato fra le donne!
Darlene: “Issa qed iġġibni fiha…mhux ta’ b’xejn in-nisa tal-paroċċa kollha jżuruh…beato fra le donne qiegħed!”
Mal-quaranta jibda’ jittanta!
Ramona: “Imma x’tagħmel Darlene, ħi, mhux qed jonqsu s-snin wara kollox! Ħeqq ħeqq…mal-quaranta jibda’ jittanta”
