MAMBO SICILIANO

This is one of my favorite dialect pronunciations: 'zheh-DROOL', meaning cucumber. It can also be heard in the song "Mambo Italiano" by Rosemary Clooney. Does it have a double meaning? The world may never know.

Proper word is cetriole, pronounced 'cheh-tree-ALLAH'.

SICILIAN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

The Sicilian - English word for these? Cirasi, pronounced 'cheer-AHS- see'. This is one I heard my dad use, and for many years I thought this to be the correct word. The proper is ciliegie, pronounced 'cheel-LYEH- jeh'. Very difficult to pronounce. Cirasi is easier.

'Cucuzza', pronounced 'coo-COO-zah', or more commonly heard as 'gah-GOOTZ'. Can also refer to someone who's not on the ball, as in 'testa di gah-GOOTZ'. The standard Italian word is 'zucca', pronounced 'TZOO-kah'. A lot easier to pronounce if you ask me.

Standard is 'pera' for a single one, and 'pere' as the plural. Not so hard to remember. The word my dad used was 'PEER-see'. He worked at the Public Market in Rochester, NY for many years, which employed many Italian-Americans.

Okay, here's a tough one - the word, not the vegetable. My father, as well as one of my aunts, pronounced this as 'kwa-CHOE-koo-lah'. It's one I remember well, since the standard Italian is much easier: carciofo, pronounced 'kahr-CHOE- foh'. Very strange to hear the beginning of an Italian dialect word begin with the sound 'q'.

These look delicious - Red, to be exact. The Sicilian dialect for these is 'pumu', pronounced 'POO-moo'. I can't figure this one out, since 'pumu' is the first part of the word for 'tomato': pomidoro. I'm thinking maybe that the immigrants thought they looked like ones and had no word for 'apple' - even though there is one: 'mela' in Standard Italian, pronounced 'MEH-lah'.

CLASSIC SICILIAN - AMERICAN

Any descendant of turn of the century Italian immigrants should know the word for this. It was later used as the word for 'toilet'. But first, the correct words are:

bagno - pronounced BAH-nyo, which could also mean 'bathroom' or 'washroom'
gabinetto - pronounced gah-bee-NET-toh, which could also mean 'cabinet' or 'washroom'. (reading it back, it sounds way too close to my surname!)

Now for the all time classic Sicilian-English word: baccauso, which is pronounced 'bahk-KOW-zoh'. It originally meant 'back house', which was where the above structures could be found. In his book 'Mount Allegro', Jerre Mangione told the tale of when he visited Italy and getting a very puzzled look amongst his relatives when using this word.

Other slangs for 'bathroom' are 'peesh-a-TOO-dah' and 'kah-kah -TOO - dah', but I would suggest not using them in mixed Italian company.

Recipe for Curly Fries

Sicilian Broccoli

No, not a recipe - although I'm sure one exists.

I came across a very amusing site that addressed how the Italian language of immigrants from the early part of the last century absorbed many English words into their vocabulary. This got me thinking of how, when I would ask my father how to say something in Italian, he would do one of four things:

1) give the proper Italian word
2) give the Sicilian dialect version of the standard
3) come up with an entirely different word or
4) give the above mentioned Sicilian-English mashup.

The correct Italian word for the vegetable pictured is 'broccoli', pronounced as it is read, accent on the first syllable. However, my dad - and one of his sisters - used #3 on the hit charts for this: smozzatudda, pronounced 'smoe- tzah - TOO - dah'.

Many more posts to come on this phenomenon as memory serves.

Olympic Park

Poor ole' Olympic Park, dead and gone.

More Dead Mall

The death of the independent video renter and seller. From the now defunct Northgate Mall. The Video King has been dethroned.

Dead Malls

From the Dead Mall series packet. This is the Northgate Mall McCurdy's before it's demolition in 2010. Many tiles of asbestos died that day.