LEARN “GOMORRAH” ITALIAN AND YOU WILL GET BY WHEN SPEAKING WITH THE MOB
Charmed by Mafia stories? Want to meet a real Mafioso? Then, you will definitely want to learn a few phrases in the Mafia language. I have selected some from the world-famous crime drama series. Read through and you will become a perfect Mafia speaker.
Since I happen to be from Naples, the fact that my dialect and my subculture are becoming so notorious all over the world has had quite an impact on me. When I am abroad, I am very often approached by somebody who asks me what it is like to live in the land of the Mafia.
Actually, the term “Mafia” typically refers to the mob from Sicily, whereas in other parts of the country it is known under different names. For instance, in Apulia it is called the Sacra Corona Unita (“The United Sacred Crown”) and in Calabria it is sadly known as the unpronounceable and untranslatable ‘Ndrangheta. In the Naples area it is called Camorra, defined as a Neapolitan secret society organized about 1820, notorious for practicing violence and blackmail. According to most scholars, the term is derived from the Biblical city of Gomorrah, an ancient city of Palestine near Sodom, possibly covered by the waters of the Dead Sea. According to the Bible, the city was destroyed by fire because of its wickedness.
Well, my answer to the above question very much depends on how I am feeling when I get asked. Sometimes I deceive them into believing that I come from a Camorra family and make up some adventurous stories about relatives of mine being shot dead by other relatives of mine. People usually get excited and ask more questions so I end up telling them the truth. On other occasions, though, I complain about this stereotypical imagery that depicts a whole country based on a small part of it.
However you want to look at it, the Mafia has a lot of fans. This explains why movies or TV series like Gomorrah are so successful. Remember “The Godfather”, a Francis Ford Coppola movie from 1972? It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a fictional New York crime family. The story, spanning 1945 to 1955, chronicles the family under the patriarch Vito Corleone, focusing on the transformation of Michael Corleone (Pacino) from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss. The movie was so successful that it also had sequels.
If this movie is too old, then you might have heard of The Sopranos, a crime drama television series from the 90s, starring the late James Gandolfini as the New Jersey-based Italian American mobster Tony Soprano, who is desperate trying to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and his criminal organization. Gomorrah tells the story of the fictional Savastano family as it struggles to maintain its status and drug territory among rival Neapolitan clans. A classic mob tale that Americans can watch in the original Italian on http://www.sundance.tv/series/gomorrah. And that, as any scholar will tell you, makes all the difference.
So, if you can speak and/or understand Italian or are learning the language you may want to learn some useful phrases and idioms that you can use if you ever met a Mafioso.
Below are listed some of Gomorrah’s most famous quotes and you can also hear them pronounced by myself.
By the way, Naples is a fantastic city and people can also speak proper Italian. I cannot deny that some of them will remind you of the ones that are portrayed in the movies, but luckily enough they are an endangered species and will soon die out, or at least we hope so.
Criminal organizations are a great problem over here, but please do not think we are all like that. We are well known for our culture as well as hospitality, kindness and openness, so next time you meet an Italian person, ask them about anything BUT the Mafia. Please.
Hope you enjoyed reading my article and let me know if you wish to learn more phrases!
Ciao, statev’ buon’.
