babysnakes
New Member
USA - English
Hello International friends!
I am a 4th generation Italian/American - my mother's grandparents came here in the late 1800's. When I was a child, my grandmother would use a few idiomatic Italian words and phrases, that still seem to crop up in my vocabulary even after all these years. One word that has I've never forgotten is what she called the knit caps that we wore in the winter. She called them "cupolines", which I'm guessing probably means "a small cupola, or roof"? I haven't found it in any conventional Italian translation guide, however a teacher of Italian in a nearby school has said that probably makes sense. Well, those types of hats are all the rage with our teenage children, and I just can't help but call them "cupolines"! My kids think I'm nuts! But I kind of like using my grandmother's word after all these years. Whenever I see any of my cousins now, we reminicence about our wonderful grandmother and laugh about her the so-called Italian words, wondering if they were real words. I'd love to tell them what I've discovered! Any thoughts?
I am a 4th generation Italian/American - my mother's grandparents came here in the late 1800's. When I was a child, my grandmother would use a few idiomatic Italian words and phrases, that still seem to crop up in my vocabulary even after all these years. One word that has I've never forgotten is what she called the knit caps that we wore in the winter. She called them "cupolines", which I'm guessing probably means "a small cupola, or roof"? I haven't found it in any conventional Italian translation guide, however a teacher of Italian in a nearby school has said that probably makes sense. Well, those types of hats are all the rage with our teenage children, and I just can't help but call them "cupolines"! My kids think I'm nuts! But I kind of like using my grandmother's word after all these years. Whenever I see any of my cousins now, we reminicence about our wonderful grandmother and laugh about her the so-called Italian words, wondering if they were real words. I'd love to tell them what I've discovered! Any thoughts?
