‘Briaco come un tegolo: Literally, as drunk as a
roof tile (which gets soaking in the rain!). In American English, to be drunk as a skunk.
Example: ‘Ieri sera alla festa l’ero briaco come un tegolo, ‘un mi ricordo più
nulla!’ (‘Last night
at the party I was as drunk as a skunk; I don’t remember anything!’)
Ci vogliano
le binde: In order to
do something that requires a lot of strength, you need a binda (car
jack).
Example:‘Sieee, un tù lo vedi come llè briaco? È ci vogliano le binde pe’
portallo via!’ (‘Yeah
right, don’t you see how drunk he is? We’re gonna need a jack to get him out of
here!’
Imbastire: To set something up, usually in reference to an
event or a situation. The term comes from sewing lingo: ‘imbastire l’orlo ai
pantaloni’ is to prepare the hem of pants before actually hemming them.
Example: ‘Eccoci, ora vorrei sapere icché t’hai imbastito per stasera, in dove
tù mi porti?’ (‘Here we
are, now I want to know what you’ve got set up for tonight. Where are you
taking me?’)
