The Most Famous Obscenity in the Italian Language

La parolaccia

Bad Language

It has become the oscenità (obscenity) heard round the world. After the shipwreck of a cruise liner (nave da crociera) off the Tuscan coast, an officer of the Italian Coast Guard, angered by the captain’s abbandono (abandoning) of his ship, bluntly ordered him to go back on board. His exact words were: “Vada a bordo, cazzo!”

Reporters and bloggers have translated this phrase into English in a variety of ways, from a mild “Go on board, damn it!” to “Go on board, for %&*#’s sake!” to a much stronger, “Get the *&#!= back on board!” Italians are interpreting the slogan as an impassioned cry to all citizens to stop thinking only about themselves, to face harsh realities and to do what’s best for their country. The phrase has gone viral (si è diffusa viralmente) and appears on banners, tee-shirts, aprons and throw pillows (above).

Obscenities like cazzo “were among the oldest, if not the oldest, words in human history,” Vito Tartamella, author of Parolacce, told me when I interviewed him in Milan as part of my research for LA BELLA LINGUA. ”Civilization couldn’t exist without them. Instead of throwing rocks at each other, men learned to hurl insults and vulgarities.”

“Do Italians curse more than other people?” I asked.

“They curse differently,” said Tartamella, noting that, unlike French, German, or English speakers, Italians express powerful emotions like anger, disgust, surprise and horror with sexual obscenities rather than scatalogical ones.  

Cazzo, which dates back to about 1300, may stem from a dialect word for the maschio dell’oca (male goose), slang for the membro virile (masculine member or organ). Other linguists have traced it to an ancient word for "ladle" and to nautical terms associated with the lusty spirit of sailors long at sea.

Sebbene bandita dalla conversazione civile (although banished from polite conversation), cazzo, as my etymological dictionary notes, has remained sempre vitalissima (always very lively). The Italian writer Italo Calvino insisted that no precise equivalent for cazzo exists in any language.

I’ve heard Italians use it as an expression of surprise (cazzo!), praise (cazzuto), boredom (scazzo), anger (incazzato), approximation (a cazzo) or plain and simple contempt (cazzone). Among the “usi di cazzo” (uses of cazzo) at the Urban Dictionary website are col cazzo (never), alla cazzo (at random), non capirci un cazzo (not understand anything) and cazzi miei (my own business). If you read Italian or Neapolitan, Wikipedia offers even more—and more colorful—expressions.  

Under Mussolini’s Codice Rocco of 1930, the use of cazzo and other parolacce (dirty words) became a crime. Of course, Italians didn’t stop swearing; they just found new ways to do so. Instead of porca puttana! (damn whore), they said porca vacca! (damn cow) or they substituted figlio di buona donna (son of a good woman) for figlio di puttana.

Cavolo (cabbage) became a nice, green way to avoid the use of the very strong word cazzo. For instance, if you feel the need to ask “What the hell do you want?”, you might say “Che cavolo vuoi? “ without sounding vulgar. And if someone is spouting nonsense, you are better off saying “Non dire cavolate" (Don’t talk bullshit)) than using a harsher word like cazzate.

However, given the circumstances of the cruise liner’s sinking, “Vada a bordo, cavolo!” would never have sufficed.

Words and Expressions

turpiloquio --  foul language

bestemmia –- blasphemy

bestemmiare come un turco –- to curse or blaspheme like a trooper (Turk)  

bestemmiare il francese –- to mangle French

non mi importa un cavolo –- I don’t give a cabbage (damn)

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

Comments

[Michele Mandrioli]

I laughed out loud when on NOVA last night they said that the tail made from the woman's hair in the drawing attributed to Leonardo da Vinci was called a "cazzone" or big cazzo.

[casino en ligne francais]

I don't know any foreign language but I plan to learn after this great suggestion of screaming obscenities.

[Salvatore Prisco]

"Bestemmia" almost always connotes blasphemy. Federico is on target.

[Andrea Laforgia]

The term "cacchio" is used all over Italy. It's not regional, though it probably derives from the Roman dialect.

[Lesley Brennan]

One of the first words I learnt when I first went to Italy many years ago was "cazzo". My male italian student friends all used it liberally, the females, never!

[Dianne Hales]

I've never heard "cacchio." Is it from a particular region of Italy? Grazie!

[Andrea Laforgia]

I confirm what Federico said about the word "bestemmia".
I think that "cacchio", too, should be mentioned among the fitting substitutes for "cazzo":
"Sono cacchi miei!"
"Che cacchio vuoi?"
"Hai rotto il cacchio!"

[Richard Palumbo]

In the Calabrian dialect the regular verb for "to get
angry" is "ingazzare". They changed the "c" of "incazzare to a "g". Growing up, I thought that was the way to say "to get angry" in Italian rather tha arrabbiarsi!

[marianna ricci-wilson]

when i was a kid, i remember being angry at my brother & i called him a "cazzo-head" b/c of course i'd heard my father & my uncles use the word liberally. the punishment i received was far worse than the crime!...have you ever had your mouth washed out w/ soap?!? in re the slogan now used on garments & pillows, "vada a bordo, cazzo", when i first saw it,
my mind automatically translated it to the english, "get back on board, prick". the tragedy of the sinking of the cruise ship could have easily been avoided...perhaps new sea lanes should be used in the future...ones not so close to treacherous waters.

[Dianne Hales]

Grazie, Federico. My dictionary defines "bestemmia" as a general term for any form of cursing or swearing, but you are absolutely right that Italian is more precise. As I understand, it is far worse to insult God or religion than to utter dirty words.

[Federico Tabbò]

Great article as always, although I must correct you about the word "bestemmia"

It does not mean, as you said, to swear, which would be "dire le parolacce" or, in English, to say the bad words. Bestemmiare means to insult God, the saints, Christ or anything related to religion.