Venetian words of the day: ‘cocàli’ and ‘scoassa’
Find out what happens if you don’t bag your rubbish properly in Venice. You’ll find that the cocàli will cause a lot of trouble if you don’t.
Language
Venetian word of the day: Òe!
This is a word that anyone who’s been to Venice will have heard being shouted out of the mouths of gondoliers. It means, ‘hello there!’ and it used by boatmen at crossroads—or should that be crosscanals—to alert other canal users to their presence. If there is another boat around the corner, the driver should respond …
Great Venetians: Pietro Bembo
When the Italian people got together to choose which of the many varieties of the language to adopt as the common and literary language, it boiled down to two: Tuscan and Venetian.
Venetian word of the day: fritoa
The arrival of carnival in Venice is announced by the appearance of fritoe in the shops. These are sweet fritters, covered with sugar, a bit like a donut, which are traditionally eaten throughout the carnival season.
Venetian numbers
Yesterday, I heard what could be considered a textbook lesson in counting as a conversation between two gondoliers contained all the numbers up to ten as they discussed their work schedule for the coming ten days.
Venetian word of the day: ombra
Due to the presence of the lagoon, Venice is a city of extraordinary light and shadow. However, the word ombra, Italian for shadow, has a very different and specific meaning in Venetian. And one which is just as enjoyable. Now, what could that be?