In this column, author Adam Jacot de Boinod explores the weird and wonderful world of German and Italian vocabulary, and discovers some rather interesting terms. Let us take a look at what he has found.

In English, we can be green with envy, see red, or feel a bit blue. Colours also have a strong symbolic force in German idioms:

eine weiße Weste haben: to be innocent (literally, to have a white vest)
Halbgötter in weiß: physicians(literally, demigods in white)
hier steht es schwarz auf weiß: it’s in writing, it’s official (literally, it’s here in black and white)
warten bis man schwarz wird: to wait a very long time (literally, to wait until you become black)
gelb vor Neid: envious (literally, yellow with envy)
gelb vor Eifersucht warden: to become yellow with jealousy
das Gelbe vom Ei: a good thing (literally, the yellow of the egg)
eine braune Gesinnung haben: to have an extreme right-wing political point of view (literally, to have a brown disposition)
eine weiße Maus sehen: to see something rare (literally, to see a white mouse)
ein graues Mäuschen: someone unattractive or uninteresting (literally, a grey mouse)
einen Silberblick haben: to be squint-eyed (literally, to have a silver gaze)

Italian is highly imaginative in its adoption of phrases from their literal definition to be given a whole new metaphorical sense:

ha sale in zucca: he has common sense (literally, he’s got salt in the pumpkin)
come il cacio sui maccheroni: perfect (literally, like cheese on pasta)
campanilismo: local pride, attachment to the vicinity (literally, bell tower-ism: referring to the fact that people do not want to travel so far as to be out of the bell-tower’s sight)
cerone: excessive make-up applied on one’s face (literally, grease paint)
padella: the oily stain on clothes (literally, a frying pan)
cavoli riscaldati: an attempt to revive a lapsed love affair (literally, reheated cabbage)
bustarella: a cash bribe (literally, a little envelope)
squadretta: a group of prison guards who specialise in beating up inmates (literally, a small squad)

Adam Jacot de Boinod worked on the first series of the BBC panel game QI for Stephen Fry. He is a British author having written three books about unusual words with Penguin Press.

TEXT: ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD | PHOTO: DREAMSTIME

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Scan Magazine Ltd.’

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Receive our monthly newsletter by email

    I accept the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy