ashok <[email protected]> wrote (about "blasphemy" declining in Italy):
> Are you sure? A couple of years ago i was fishing
> in the north east .. and everyone of the men
> (without exception) used a variation of 'dio cane'
> or 'dio porco' or 'dio maiale'... the creative ones
> would mix some bizarre toilet or sexual allegory
> with blasphemy e.g. 'la stronza della madonna'.
> I also noticed that these expressions were generally
> the monopoly of men ...and when the women were around
> it would change to a disguised form ...
I didn't mean to say that traditional "blasphemies" have totally
disappeared - but they are definitely declining. It isn't surprising
that "fishermen in the north east" are continuing with some oldfashioned
jargon, especially when they are disappointed.
Also... some "disguised forms" have a way of surviving, such as "Maremma
maiala" (instead of "Madonna" being called pig) used mainly by people
who live (or used to live) in Maremma.
One of the peculiarities of the current trend is that women are
frequently using male-oriented "sexual" expressions. For instance, while
"cunt" in English or "con" in French means stupid, "figa" in Italian
means "attractive" - now used by women as often as men and even turned
into "figo" to define a good-looking male. And there are lots of other
such examples.
Giancarlo
