Let me just start this blog post with a disclaimer: I am fully aware that while the pun “A good sign” works in English, it gets lost in translation. Still, it was catchy, so I went with it.
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This blog post is about signs, the kind you read, so the post title, A Good Sign, is a play on words. [My inner grammar geek wants you to know those are homonyms: 2 different words with the same spelling and pronunciation: sign, as in road sign, and sign like an omen.] In Italian however, there is more than one word for sign: the sign you read is un cartello, a road sign is un’indicazione stradale , street signs are targhe stradali and an omen is un segno (as in un buon segno, as in the blog title).
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Now that we’ve cleared that up, let me introduce this week’s Foto Blog gallery. Looking through the Venice photos from my recent Italy trip, I noticed a preponderance of really cool signs (the kind you read), and I thought to myself, this is a sign to do a blog post!
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So without more ado, here are some of my favorite signs around Venice. Che ne pensate? (Whaddaya think?) These are some good signs, aren’t they?! My favorite is the last one. What about you?
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Lavori in corso / Work in progress (Men at Work)
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Un operaio che affigge un permesso di costruzione dal Comune di Venezia / A construction worker displays a work permit from the city of Venice
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Targa stradale per la calle del Ponte Storto / Street sign for Crooked Bridge Lane (The word calle is Venetian dialect, pronounced /cahl-lay/, means alley or lane; the Italian word is vicolo.)
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Dei volantini e annunci vari / Various fliers and announcements
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Cartello attaccato ad un cancello: “basta BASTA e basta CON LE CACCHE DEI CANI. SIAMO INCAZZATI FURIOSI.” / Sign stuck to an entry gate: “enough ENOUGH and enough WITH THE DOG DOO-DOO. WE ARE FURIOUSLY P*SSED OFF.”
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Molto divertenti!
Sounds vaguely familiar, mi pare di ricordare qualcosa vaga al riguardo,
i agree w/ you. the last one is a lol. only in italy would they frame such a message so beautifully. however the construction worker is a real cutie pie in pic 2.
susie
Ciao Jodina ! Great cartelli, especially the last one.
Una domanda, per piacere. Is INCAZZATI (after siamo) an adverb? Or a gerund?
I may have to post it on my front door , assuming I get your permission and give you proper credit.
We will try to locate the Trattoria Al Ponte Storto in October and will report back.
Papipoka & Minna
I have a great picture of a sign from southern italy,i don’t think it will post in here though-it’s wooden and says ‘passagio secreto’ with secret passage written in english underneath it. It’s just an alley through way, i think(: I believe it was taken in Locorotundo. I also have a funny photo, taken in Lecce, of ‘Obama’s take away pizza’ with an image of Obama biting into a slice of pizza. I’m guessing this was created right after the elections and they were capitalizing on that enthusiasm….my trip was in 2010.
And I agree with Susanna-that construction worker is a cutie-a hottie, in fact!
Just to be clear, the Obama take away is a sign for a business, and I took a photo for it.
Also, I love the various fliers photo-only in Italy would that somehow look magical and beautiful and a work of art. I mean, I’ve seen boards like that in the US in coffee shops and around town, but they just look kind of dirty and weathered. lol.
Like a friend of mine said ‘even the laundry hanging in beautiful in Italy’. So true….
Ciao Mamaa Susanna, buon sangue non mente mai (the apple never falls far from the tree)… numero due is a cutie!
J
Ciao Mina e Ermanno (aka Papipoka :))
allora, INCAZZATI is a past participle being used as an adjective (the verb is INCAZZARE, to piss off, and INCAZZATI is pissed off.
You have my permission to put this on you door! 😉
Let me know how the cibo is at la Trattoria al Ponte Storto.
Jodina
Ciao Irm,
you should post the Obama-pizza-eating sign! And I agree with you completely: the tattered message boards, the drying laundry… all looks poetic and artistic in Italia!
Jodina