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Merda!: The Real Italian You Were Never Taught in School
 
 
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Merda!: The Real Italian You Were Never Taught in School (Paperback)

~ (Author), Kim Wilson Brandt (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: una puttana, Roland Delicio, The Italian
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Merda!: The Real Italian You Were Never Taught in School + Dirty Italian: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" (Dirty Everyday Slang) + Italian Without Words
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

At last, a humorous, uncensored language guide to the colorful slang and rude colloquialisms that are so essential to a true understanding of everyday Italian. For the first time, all those words and phrases that were deemed off-color for the classroom are included in one volume.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Plume (November 1, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0452270391
  • ISBN-13: 978-0452270398
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #369,666 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #73 in  Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Italian

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Roland Delicio
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Merda!: The Real Italian You Were Never Taught in School
45% buy the item featured on this page:
Merda!: The Real Italian You Were Never Taught in School 3.3 out of 5 stars (16)
$10.40
Dirty Italian: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" (Dirty Everyday Slang)
25% buy
Dirty Italian: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" (Dirty Everyday Slang) 4.6 out of 5 stars (9)
$8.00
Berlitz Hide This Italian Book (Italian Edition)
12% buy
Berlitz Hide This Italian Book (Italian Edition) 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
$9.95
Italian Without Words
11% buy
Italian Without Words 4.5 out of 5 stars (15)
$6.00

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
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 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
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1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite merda, August 2, 2003
By Eric J. Lyman (Roma, Lazio Italy) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
I'll stop short of writing that Merda is a piece of merda, but it is a wasted opportunity.

Italian slang -- especially the kind of colorful slang this book focuses on -- has its roots in history and tradition, and it gives insight into the psychology of a people. It can be very vulgar, but it is also symbolic, metaphoric, and at times even poetic (albeit in a crude way). But instead of focusing on that, Merda is content to be little more than a list of ways to accuse someone of practicing the world's oldest profession, and new methods to refer to defecation in every day conversation. Instead of using insight, it relies on shock value.

Sadly, it also confuses some regional phrases with true Italian, and there are more than a handful of translation errors.

It is true that much of the information contained on the book's pages is difficult to come across without hanging out with i ragazzi after dusk on a street corner in Naples, but it could have been so much more.

Combine those fatal shortcomings with poor quality given its price (it's produced using newsprint between two flimsy covers), and you end up with a product with little to recommend it.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars This book is not as good as others in the same series., August 18, 1998
By A Customer
Well, I already had "Mierda: The Real Spanish, etc.", so I decided to buy this one. Italian is my mother tongue, so I bought this book to give it to a friend of mine studying Italian. I had to change my mind. The book is plenty of primary-school-level mistakes that, if you are learning Italian, actually makes the book pretty confusing, and that however aren't acceptable in any instruction book, even though about "bad" words. The vocabulary also is very much "regional" (mainly based on the dialect spoken in Tuscany) and so some of the words won't be understood outside that area. It is a pity, because the book about Spanish is pretty good. The book requires to be thoroughly revised by someone with more familiarity with standard Italian to make it worth even its relatively cheap price.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars what an ugly book, December 14, 2004
By Cicciopulcino "cicciopulcino" (Grover Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
I am italian and I was having a look at the book and I think it is really badly conceived and with so many elementary grammar mistakes. I could find at least 10 errors. For example it is an ELEMENTARY italian grammar rule that the feminine article before a feminine noun gets the apostrophe (un'assatanata) and NOT un assatanata. You say UN'AMICA and not una amica. You san UNO sporcaccione and not un sporcaccione. You say SPUDORATA not spudErata.... Just to mention a few errors... And the translations that he sometimes uses are obsolete: when I see a hunk guy I don't say "uno forte e ben armato" . Give me a break!!!!
Mr Delicio did really a poor job, evidently he doesn't really know the slang language really spoken by italian people.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Raunchy - and that's being polite.
I wish I had read the reviews before I purchased this book. I bought it as a gift for an associate that was moving to Rome. Read more
Published on May 17, 2007 by 2nd Hand Book Buyer

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny
More X - rated then I thought.
Great for laughs from those who really know italian.
Wonder about those who don;t :-)
Published on February 16, 2007 by F. Siciliano

5.0 out of 5 stars Enough for its purposes

It is a good way to undestand the italian daily, in a rough way. Differently from the romantic and ideal side... Read more
Published on November 4, 2006 by Alex Shin Yamamoto

4.0 out of 5 stars An amusing look at Italian slang
A woman that is passionately in love with Italy and all things Italian writes this review. This is one of those books that is not necessary but is very entertaining. Read more
Published on June 14, 2006 by Amalfi Coast Girl

3.0 out of 5 stars Bastante Bene- just good enough
I am an Italian-American who discovered this book on the bookshelf of one of my older cousins. It is very amusing; you will finally learn what to say to obnoxious taxi drivers... Read more
Published on June 2, 2006 by S.M.R.W.

5.0 out of 5 stars Spice it up
You may or may not want to use some of these words when speaking Italian, but they can be definitely useful to understand. Read more
Published on October 23, 2004 by Laura De Giorgio

4.0 out of 5 stars Very useful, very amusing, very racy!
This book is NOT to be left in the presence of minors and/or elders who's wrath you don't wish to incur. Read more
Published on April 9, 2002 by Diana

4.0 out of 5 stars Absolute Fun
If you are an Italian American like myself, this book will clue you in to some of those 'mystery' phrases your mom murmured between her teeth as she chased a misbehaving you... Read more
Published on February 12, 2002 by Diana F. Von Behren

5.0 out of 5 stars Merda! Great book
If you really want to learn Italian slangs and get nasty you need to get this book.
Published on July 6, 2001 by Franklin Carpio

3.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is Funny
This book does have grammatical errors. In fact, I think a lot of the words were created by the author. However, this book is absolutely hilarious. Read more
Published on March 9, 2001 by Wallace V. French III

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