Folklore Form/Genre: Italian gesture

Informant: Carson Spahr

General Info about item:

• Insulting gesture, customary folklore
• Language: Italian
• Country of origin: Italy
• Informant: Carson Spahr
• Date collected: 10/27/18

Informant Data:

Carson Spahr was born on April 25th, 1997 in Greenwich, Connecticut. He grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.  Currently, he is a senior at Dartmouth College majoring in government. He is on the Varsity Squash team and is a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.  He enjoys traveling and visited Italy last spring with a group of friends.

Contextual Data:

        Social Context: While in the King Arthur Flour cafe in the Dartmouth Library, Carson told me a story about his trip to Italy.  Since he has Italian relatives, he was excited to visit Italy and better understand the culture. When I asked him about learning any gestures while he was there, he told me a story about how he was walking on a very busy street and bumped into someone, making them drop their things. The man made this gesture that Carson later learned meant “go to hell.”

        Cultural Context: During the interview, Carson noted how prevalent gestures were in Italy.  He said that people frequently used them and he did not always know what people meant, so he usually had to go look it up.  This gesture showed the different contexts that a gesture can be used in Italian society.

Item:

Keeping your fingers and hand firm, and slicing it downwards means “go to hell.”

Associated Image:

Informant’s Comments:

He said that it was interesting not knowing the complete meaning of his interactions with people while traveling around Italy.  At first, he was not sure what the vendor meant but after looking at his face, Carson could tell that he had offended the man and that the gesture was definitely negative.

Collector’s Comments:

I think Carson’s interview was interesting because he did not know about the meaning of the gesture but was able to know that it was an insulting gesture.  

Collector’s Name: Lizzie Clark and Emily Wang

Tags/Keywords: gestures, insults, Italian