dare il "la"

[mimitabby]

per piacere, aiutatemi con questo frase:


"nessuno a cui abbiamo dato il "la"; noi siamo dei bianchi quanto lo e' lei;
Chevalley, e quanto la regina d'Inghilterra; eppure da duemila cinquecento anni siamo colonia. "

none of us have given the la, we're as white as you, Chevally, and as white
as the queen of england, even though for 2500 yeasr we've been colonized???


thanks
Mimi

 

[Alfry]

per piacere, aiutatemi con questo frase:


"nessuno a cui abbiamo dato il "la"; noi siamo dei bianchi quanto lo e' lei;
Chevalley, e quanto la regina d'Inghilterra; eppure da duemila cinquecento anni siamo colonia. "

none of us have given the la, we're as white as you, Chevally, and as white
as the queen of england, even though for 2500 yeasr we've been colonized???


thanks
Mimi

dare il la = to make something start, to set the tone of something
in this case it seems to me the first interpretation.

...even though for 2500 yeasr we've been colonized???
... yet we have been colonizad for 2500 years
for me fits better, but I can be wrong....
I don't know if it makes sense to you

 

[mimitabby]

dare il la = to make something start, to set the tone of something
in this case it seems to me the first interpretation.

...even though for 2500 yeasr we've been colonized???
... yet we have been colonizad for 2500 years
for me fits better, but I can be wrong....
I don't know if it makes sense to you

Alfry, the speaker in this sentence is Il Gattopardo himself, a rich sicilian
"prince"

 

[Alfry]

in fact my point of view and Gattopardo's one are different.
Im not Sicilian and, above all, I'm not rich...

I'm kidding, obviously

 

[mimitabby]

in fact my point of view and Gattopardo's one are different.
Im not Sicilian and, above all, I'm not rich...

I'm kidding, obviously

o pure, sei ricco?

 

[Adriana_Italy]

Any use?

No-one to whom we have given a start; we are just as white as you, Chevalley and even the Queen of England; yet we have been a colony for over two and a half thousand years.

To be honest I'm not sure about the first bit...If I had an idea of who no-one was I might be able to do a little better.

 

[mimitabby]

Il gattopardo is speaking to a young milanese who thinks that now that italy is unified,
the sicilians will be able to "advance" like the rest of italy. The young milanese believes
that now Sicily is free, but Il Gattopardo is saying that the milanese really
aren't any different from any of the other people who have colonized Sicily.
This is part of his response. Does this help?
WHAT A BOOK!

 

[Alfry]

o pure, sei ricco?

In Italy we answer:
MAGAAAAARIIIIII (magari)

I'd give anything if you could be right!!!

 

[Adriana_Italy]

Unfortunately I'm as much in the dark as I was and I have to get back to work...I hope someone else can either confirm my interpretation or help you further...Good luck!

 

[Silvia]

mimi, dare il la, è un'espressione che proviene dal campo musicale. "La" è la nota di accordo degli strumenti. Perciò quando si è dato il la, si è pronti a partire (cioè a iniziare ciò che si sta per fare).

I can't find the book at home...
comunque, sei sicura che ci sia un punto e virgola prima di Chevalley?

Altrimenti potrebbe essere così:
we are whites as you are, and Chevalley, and as the Queen of England; though we've been a colony for a two thousand and five hundred years."

La parola "bianco" viene usata come sostantivo (noun) e non come aggettivo (adjective), infatti è preceduta da "dei", preposizione con valore indefinito.

Credo che il senso di tutta la frase sia: in spite of being whites, thus colonizers, we have always been colonized.

That's almost true for Sicily. They have always been submitted to some other people.

Please correct me.

 

[mimitabby]

mimi, dare il la, è un'espressione che proviene dal campo musicale. "La" è la nota di accordodegli strumenti. Perciò quando si è dato il la, si è pronti a partire (cioè a iniziare ciò che si sta per fare).

I can't find the book at home...
comunque, sei sicura che ci sia un punto e virgola prima di Chevalley?

Credo che il senso di tutta la frase sia: in spite of being whites, thus colonizers, we have always been colonized.

That's almost true for Sicily. They have always been submitted to some other people.

Please correct me.

hai ragione, e' scritto: "quanto lo e' lei, Chevalley, "
ma non ho ancora capito "La" come la nota musicale.
do re me fa sol la ti do.
??

 

[Alfry]

dare il "la" (do re mi fa sol LA si), or to use the same note, accordare (to tune up).... in this case to make someone something start because before a concert starts all musicians tune their instruments up.

 

[mimitabby]

che strano! e' molto difficile da capire
grazie Alfry

 

[Alfry]

what's important is that you can consider it as an idiomatic saying