Zio Zuccone, You're a Pumpkin Head!
Monday July 7, 2008
Yes, you there, with the big bald head covered by a skullcap, eating squash and a piece of sponge cake!
How's that for a menmonic when remembering Italian words similar to zucca (which usually means squash—but can also mean human head)? A zuccone (grossa zucca) is a big pumpkin, but can also be used disparagingly (for example: dunce, dullard, thickhead, fool, fat head, blockhead). A zucca pelata (literally, peeled squash) can refer to a bald head. A zucchetto is a skull cap, and zuccotto is an Italian dessert (a richly-layered pastry cream-filled sponge cake).
Finally, remember Zinedine Zidane's savage headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final? There's a word for that too: zuccata (headbutt).
How's that for a menmonic when remembering Italian words similar to zucca (which usually means squash—but can also mean human head)? A zuccone (grossa zucca) is a big pumpkin, but can also be used disparagingly (for example: dunce, dullard, thickhead, fool, fat head, blockhead). A zucca pelata (literally, peeled squash) can refer to a bald head. A zucchetto is a skull cap, and zuccotto is an Italian dessert (a richly-layered pastry cream-filled sponge cake).
Finally, remember Zinedine Zidane's savage headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final? There's a word for that too: zuccata (headbutt).
Comments
We’ve always used the word “cupolini”…little dome…as the skull cap word.