PERCHÈ LA MISERIA!!?
It was on the david letterman show, they had a common american girl in torino doing nightly reports (so what i am about to tell may be fiction, but knowing Italians highly probable)
Her and some american cohorts were driving in a car, and slid into and rear-ended a local italian's car.
They all got out to assess the damage and talk it over, communication was poor for language barrier, all the while the americans acting like cocky assholes in foreign land devoid of responsibility...
The italian gentleman quite upset by now..
as the communication proved less and less fruitful one of the americans threw a snowball and it hit the window of the italian's car and made a very loud noise on impact, a loud percussion thump/crash.
In response to that last straw the fine italian gentleman cried out "PERCHÈ LA MISERIA!!?"
which translated to Anglo is, "WHY THE MISERY??!"
the end
Interpretation
Now naturally on the American television show they merely chuckled at the relative peculiarity of gentleman’s exclamation.
For me, besides being about ugly americans, this is a great illustration of the differences in culture, and especially in the critical role of language in shaping a culture and the peoples' view of the world...
That within an entire nation of people speaking the same language, many would feel it appropriate to use such an expression, spoken in the musical tones which accompany Italian language, as if in an opera, and in their subconscious mind all the times they had heard that sorrowful expression cried out.. that they use such an expression and those words in their real moment of grief...
(as opposed to say, some vulgar meaningless insult)
please take a moment to ponder..............
language is critical friends, it is so much more than the mere switching this spelling or sound for that, its depths go far beyond what the ear can perceive.
it can be a whole other way of viewing and *feeling* the world and the way one experiences life everyday.
Her and some american cohorts were driving in a car, and slid into and rear-ended a local italian's car.
They all got out to assess the damage and talk it over, communication was poor for language barrier, all the while the americans acting like cocky assholes in foreign land devoid of responsibility...
The italian gentleman quite upset by now..
as the communication proved less and less fruitful one of the americans threw a snowball and it hit the window of the italian's car and made a very loud noise on impact, a loud percussion thump/crash.
In response to that last straw the fine italian gentleman cried out "PERCHÈ LA MISERIA!!?"
which translated to Anglo is, "WHY THE MISERY??!"
the end
Interpretation
Now naturally on the American television show they merely chuckled at the relative peculiarity of gentleman’s exclamation.
For me, besides being about ugly americans, this is a great illustration of the differences in culture, and especially in the critical role of language in shaping a culture and the peoples' view of the world...
That within an entire nation of people speaking the same language, many would feel it appropriate to use such an expression, spoken in the musical tones which accompany Italian language, as if in an opera, and in their subconscious mind all the times they had heard that sorrowful expression cried out.. that they use such an expression and those words in their real moment of grief...
(as opposed to say, some vulgar meaningless insult)
please take a moment to ponder..............
language is critical friends, it is so much more than the mere switching this spelling or sound for that, its depths go far beyond what the ear can perceive.
it can be a whole other way of viewing and *feeling* the world and the way one experiences life everyday.