Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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johnnyonthespot
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by johnnyonthespot »

Squigy wrote: ...
There is one I am told basically means "I hope you burst (or bust)", it's pronounced skoose-dee-mah. Does anyone know what that is?
"Scusi di mal" perhaps?

May or may not mean "bad excuse" as in, "You're a bad excuse of a human being!"
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by liviomoreno »

Could be "Scuse da matti" -> Crazy excuse
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misbris
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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Could that refer to a person?
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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misbris wrote:Could that refer to a person?
Yeah, I was about to say. My mother said it was "I hope you bust", but I seem to recall it being used to refer to a rude person, or something. Like "He's a skoose dee mah". Have you ever heard it this way?
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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SCUSTUMATA (sicilian dialect) is the phonetic for the same expression and means your a b..l buster! =Peter=
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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PeterTimber wrote:SCUSTUMATA (sicilian dialect) is the phonetic for the same expression and means your a b..l buster! =Peter=
That sounds like it may be it, only my great grandmother was Calabrese and her husband's parents were from the regions of Molise and Campania. Could it be used in these regions?
My Italian surnames:

Caserta: Maietta, Rossano, Tessitore, Negro, Peluso, Musone

Campobasso: D'Andrea, Barile

Catanzaro: Fiorelli/Fiorillo, Romito
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by suanj »

hmmm I live in Molise, and I remember something as your phrase, that was used from old peoples... from what I remember, the phrase was said in ironic sense, when a people making bad thing to another people and after it give the apologies, but without repentance...
so the other no accepting the apologies, and saying " ( they are) bad apologies/scuse di male";
it means that they are the false apologies of who made bad thing and giving the apologies just for to remain in friendship, and so it can have the further occasion for to make other bad things...
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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Yes, I think that's it. It refers to a person that you could not trust.
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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Yes, Suanj! I think that is it. My mother got it mixed up with another word. She said skoose-dee-mah is an insincere person. What you say makes total sense. Thanks!!

Booch-nas-kah-tah is "I hope you bust/burst". If anyone wants to try and figure that out :lol:
My Italian surnames:

Caserta: Maietta, Rossano, Tessitore, Negro, Peluso, Musone

Campobasso: D'Andrea, Barile

Catanzaro: Fiorelli/Fiorillo, Romito
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by aliza24 »

Well, I'm glad someone figured their expression out from this thread. :)
For now, mine still remains a mystery.
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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aliza24 wrote:Well, I'm glad someone figured their expression out from this thread. :)
For now, mine still remains a mystery.
Oh :lol: I'm sorry! I forgot you started this.
My Italian surnames:

Caserta: Maietta, Rossano, Tessitore, Negro, Peluso, Musone

Campobasso: D'Andrea, Barile

Catanzaro: Fiorelli/Fiorillo, Romito
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

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LOL. No prob. That's what threads are all about! Sometimes you start with one thing and end up with something else but that's ok.
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by suanj »

aliza24 wrote:My family's been in the US for a few generations. We still have some old expressions that have been passed down that we say and there's one that I've always been curious about.

I don't know how you would spell it- or even if it's been changed over the years- so I'm curious if anyone else has ever heard something similar.

It goes something like this (written as it would sound it in English):

Cheech kah-mah-nah kah-lah
Kah-lah kah-mah-nah cheech

Or an approximate Italian spelling:

cicci camana calla
callla camana cicci

It's supposed to be the equivalent of "the pot calling the kettle black"

As in- if someone who is short calls someone else short you say "cicci camana calla, calla camana cicci!"

FYI- My people were from the Alife area in Caserta. A little NE of Naples.

If anyone's ever heard something like this I'd love to hear from you.
I know not if can be helpful, and I know if it is the same but :
"the pot calling the kettle black" is no the equivalent.
The phrase
cicci camana calla
calla camana cicci

really:
cicci ca' mana calla
calla ca' mana cicci


and in this shape it are also some other phrase (also: mamma Cicci me mena, Cicci me mena mamma) ...
litterally:
Cicci (Ciccio in dialect Ciccio and Ciccio is diminutive of Francesco; Ciccio is used in general, for meaning a false dupe person, a person that seeming dupe, but really is wily, sly or so)
with the hand call, with hand call Cicci;

it was said when a people ( mythical Cicci) making something for appearing innocent in a fact and instead is the guilty, and in that he wish appearing a dupe, so the false innocence seeming more true... because nobody can suspect of a dupe person....
pratically, the phrase was used for to say abt a people, that seeming ingenuous but really is not ingenuous...
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aliza24
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by aliza24 »

Suanj-

So you have heard this expression?!
I have been looking for years for someone who knew it!

Which dialect is this? Where have you heard it? Do people still say it today?

My people came from Alife, Caserta but before that San Lorenzello in Benevento.

I'm sorry for so many questions. You have me excited now- and even more curious.

Thanks,
Aliza
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Re: Has anyone ever heard this expression?

Post by suanj »

It are several phrases with Cicci/Ciccio/Cicco etc ( all dialectal diminutive of Francesco; meaning: little Frank) I remember my mother to say it... my mother was of Apulia region... but they are a usual phrases used of southern Italy peoples.... this phrases was as dialectal proverbs... no more used currently.... and to say a phrase with "Cicci/Ciccio/Cicco" always meant, in general, that who claim abt a fact, he really is the author of fact...
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