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I wouldn't translate "popolo cojone" as dumb people.
by guelo 4y ago
I wouldn't translate "popolo cojone" as dumb people.
- EarthLaunch 4y agoI became interested in this Italian word and found this[0] casual translation: "cojone: bad word, but very useful! referring to someone who's an asshole, and stupid persons in general". Some of the older English references[1] also seem negative: "English had it as cullion a 16c. term of contempt for a man, "a mean wretch" (Shakespeare) also "a testicle" (Chaucer), from Middle English coujon, coilon (late 14c.), from Old French coillon "testicle; worthless fellow, dolt," from Latin coleus." I find that I can quite easily imagine the poet seeing people dying for these 'friends' while the stupid public (popolo cojone) attends a nice speech. 0: https://hinative.com/questions/10051415?locale=en-US#answer-25010550 https://hinative.com/questions/10051415?locale=en-US#answer-... 1: https://www.etymonline.com/word/cojones https://www.etymonline.com/word/cojones
- magneticnorth 4y agoHow would you translate it?
- 01acheru 4y agoA "coglione", which is the Italian word for the dialectal "cojone", is literally a testicle. Anyway you can also call someone a "coglione" and it means they are somewhere between dumb, jerk and ignorant.
- guelo 4y ago"fucking people" would be closer since its supposed to be a curse word.
- riffraff 4y agobut it's not a generic curse word, it's an insulting way of saying you're stupid, which is the more important part in this context. But yeah, I could not think of a better word in english, "traduttore traditore" as the saying goes :)