Il tempo di un Caffe' - Thoughts on Italian Words

Episode 17: GIALLO & NERO


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GIALLO 

GIALLO = yellow, from French JAUNE


GIALLO can be LIMONE (lemon)/ ORO (gold)/ ZAFFERANO (saffron) / CANARINO (canary).

We also use GIALLO  to talk about a LIBRO GIALLO or a FILM GIALLO (a yellow book or yellow movie) meaning a DETECTIVE STORY (mystery, crime). 

It comes from a long-running series of pulp crime-mystery novels known as 'Il Giallo Mondadori', named such for their bright yellow covers and the name of the publisher behind them, which directly led to the birth of the Giallo film genre.



NERO


From Latin NIGER = black



UNA GIORNATA NERA = A bad day

ESSERE NERO = to be absolutely upset

SONO INCAVOLATO NERO = I’m black upset, super upset

LA MAGIA NERA = Black magic 
PECORA NERA = black sheep

VEDERE NERO = to see dark 

‘Eh… la vedo nera’ =  'I see it dark…’ = I don’t see a good thing/situation

AVERE PENSIERI NERI = to have dark thoughts


‘Non facciamo il diavolo più nero di quello che è’ = 'let’s not paint the devil darker, more black than what it is'

Meaning ‘let’s not worry too much about the obstacle right in front of us, it’s not that bad’.


I’m gonna leave you with one of Italian most loved song of the last 2 decades.

The title is SERE NERE by Tiziano Ferro, and it goes like this, with this crazy interval 

https://open.spotify.com/track/4Ovy5UkvkweOluGd9hoKsR?si=402f23d6e53e4c12

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Il tempo di un Caffe' - Thoughts on Italian WordsBy Ilaria Cerini