Pseudo-anglicisms in Italian

It’s surprising just how many English terms are thrown into everyday conversation here in Italy. As you might expect, many of these are more business or marketing related, a wide range of specific terms in the English language having gradually made their way into the Italian vernacular. But I thought it might be fun to look at a few English words that are commonly used in Italian, but that have rather lost their original meaning in the process. Some are so odd that I question how they even came into being in the first place!

So, first up, we have ‘mister’. This is fairly specific, used to refer to a sports coach, generally a children’s sports coach (at least in my experience). I presume that was originally some kind of mistranslation of ‘Sir’, as often used in British classrooms for example, and the term simply stuck. While ‘coach’ is also used, more so in recent years in light of the growing numbers of lifestyle/mental coaches for example, ‘mister’ is still the standard term used by kids when addressing their trainer.

Next, the same kids might travel to their football game on a ‘pullman’. This term also refers to a coach, but we’re talking the four-wheeled kind now, a bus for more long-distance travel. This apparently has to do with the fact that a certain Mr. Pullman was responsible for producing some of the earliest examples of bus in 19^th century America, though quite how the term came to be used in Italy and not in the English languages I’m not sure.

Next, ‘footing’, which actually has nothing to do with football, but is the word Italians like to use to refer to ‘jogging’, although the latter is also commonly understood.

Then, a particular favourite of mine – ‘baby parking’! Quite literally, the place you go to ‘park your baby’ while you’re at work, so the creche or day-care centre in other words and (thankfully) not some dank multistorey in the city centre.

I also love ‘smoking’, the commonly used Italian term for a tuxedo. I believe this has to do with the fact that a gentleman used to retire to the smoking room and would presumably be wearing his smart jacket or Sunday best while doing so.

Another apparel-related one is ‘K-way’, pronounced key-way, taken from the brand of the same name and used to refer to a rain jacket. I remember hearing this one for the first time, when a colleague reminded me to bring mine with me, and I had no clue what he was referring to!

And let’s not forget ‘slip’, which, in the UK, we use to refer to a woman’s petticoat or underskirt (despite all of these sounding quite out-dated, at least to my ears). But in Italian, the word ‘slip’ simply refers to a woman’s knickers or pants.

And then we have ‘beauty’, which is the Italian’s word of choice for their toiletry bag when travelling, presumably coined because it contains all those ‘beautifying items’ we need on the road.

While on the road, you may need to stop at an ‘autogrill‘, otherwise known as a motorway service station. Italian catering company Autogrill is responsible for this one becoming part of everyday Italian language.

Last but not least, ‘water’, but surely this one’s obvious, just another way to refer to good old H2O, right? Well, not quite, as ‘il water’, pronounced ‘varter’, is in fact the lavatory or toilet, a shortened version of the out-dated English term water closet (though WC is still commonly understood of course).

And there you have it, a short summary of weird but wonderful ‘Italian’ words to get you started!