Coldo (Italian/English)
Staying in Rimini for the first time I asked to use the shower at a relative's home. I was shown the way to the flat where we were to stay, next to the main house. Here I commenced to prepare for my shower and started to run the hot tap. After a few minutes no hot water appeared so I returned to the main house and inform them there was no hot water. One of the boys went to check and returned with a smile on his face announcing there was plenty of hot water. Sono inglese, sono stupido, I had mistaken caldo for cold and freddo for hot. Never again.
Sent by: Gordon
Comments
I shall try to remember the difference by saying caldo (caldera / volcano = hot) and frrrrredo (freezing!) = cold.
Italian: "Pesce" and "Pesca" ("fish" and "peach") is one that tripped us up in an icecream shop where we asked for a fish-flavoured icecream.
It is funny finding out that I am not the only person who had mistaken "caldo" for "cold"!
It's hard also for us Italians when we start learning English. We always get confused and think that cold means
I think sometimes if you know more than one language from a similar family it's worth cycling through them to see if another one seems to be a better match, I believe Spanish for hot is caliente? Closer to "caldo", that same cal- prefix.
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