Amore e Matrimonio

This morning, as I began my daily allotment of Italian, I was struck by the section's title. Love and matrimony. Oh, boy! What joys or horrors await me there?

Well, as it turns out, it happens to be a fairly comical section. One that, instead of leaving me rather lethargic and dull, induced me to laughter. Several times, in fact. Here are some excerpts.

It begins by presenting me with four statements:

1) "Questa e una coppia di innamorati." That couple is in love. simple enough
2)"Queste due persone non sono innamorate l'una dell'altra e non sono nemmeno amici."
Those two people aren't in love with each other and they aren't even friends. To drive the point home, they have a picture of a woman judge yelling and shaking her finger at some poor guy.
3)"Queste due persone non sono innamorate l'una dell'altra. Sono solo amici." These two people aren't in love. They are only friends. Good, at least some civility has returned to the world.
4)"Questo e un gruppo di amici." This is a group of friends.

It eventually moves on to various ways of going on a date. You have the options of "mangiano al ristorante," "ballano," "fanno le spese," or "baciano." Translation: eating in a restaurant, dancing, shoe shopping, or kissing. The contrast between the last two made me laugh really hard. It almost implies, "and if you successfully shop with the girl, feel entitled to kiss her."

Then there are the different relationships that exist between guys and girls. 1) moglie (married), 2)amica (friends), 3)ragazza (girlfriend -- boyfriend is ragazzo in case you were wondering), and 4)non conosce (not conscious of).

By the end of 30 minutes of these and other similar statements, I had had a healthy dose of laughter. It is a wonderful way to start out your day -- I'd recommend it to anyone. :D

Oh, and ladies, if you are ever in Italy and some guy asks you, "Mi vuoi sposare?" don't just nod and laugh. Unless you WANT to marry him.