My Secret Desire.....

Ok,  I admit it.... I have a secret desire to be Italian.  Now, I know I have an Italian last name.  I married into an Italian family.  But that's not what I am talking about. I want to be a real Italian.  As in, I want to live in Italy.  My most favorite thing about being Italian is the lovely Italian language.  It rolls off the tongue.  Everything sounds pretty when said in Italian.

That being said,  I have sayings in Italian placed around my house.

These two are in  my kitchen.  La Dolce Vita....The Good Life.

Nella Mia Casa Nessuno va Affamato....In my house, no one goes hungry.

Notice that I have to put the Italian words in Italics.... it's like some kind of unwritten rule for me.  Like maybe it makes the words look as amazing as they sound when said out loud by someone who speaks Italian fluently (that would not be me, BTW).  

I love the Italian language so much that this summer, when visiting Italy, I bought this plaque in Capri.

Now, I had no clue what this plaque said when I bought it.  And the little old Italian lady I bought it from didn't speak any English.  However, since it was written in Italian, I figured it had to be good.  Probably some amazing local saying!

So the plaque came home and I promptly hung it up by the front door.  My husband walked by and said, "Did you get that in Capri?  What does it mean?"  

Hmmmm.  Time to get that saying translated.  Are you ready for it?  The big translation into some amazing Italian saying?

Here it is:  Say hello when you enter, when you leave go get your roosters.  

Or another translation said- Health when you enter, when you leave go get your roosters.

Or, and this is the best, - Say hello when you enter, and mind your own ***** business.

What???? And it actually uses another word for roosters that I just can't bring myself to type or say out loud.

  Hmmm. Nice.  So, while my guests are entering and leaving my home, I'm silently cursing them out in Italian.  I probably should have pushed for a translation when purchasing said plaque.  And I am now wondering if that sweet little old Italian lady really didn't speak English.

So, now what am I going to do?  I mean, I spent 25 Euros on this stupid, insulting plaque.  I could leave it alone, and hope no one understands what it says.  But, I know.  So, I am on a mission to refurbish said plaque.  I will post photos of the refurbishment once I am done.

The moral of this story?  Make sure you don't get so caught up in the prettiness of something that you don't take time to properly understand the underlying meaning of it.  Sigh....