2023-05-05 16:00:02
Ordinary Italian has no shortage of profanities and you’ll find there’s an adequate swear word (swear word) or expletive (curse) for pretty much anything that may go wrong in your life.
But, if you’re looking to take your Italian swearing efforts up a notch, you may want to peer into your region’s dialect for inspiration. If you live in the Lazio region, there truly is no better curse to know than damn you.
Damn you (sometimes shortened to ‘You shut up) is one of, if not the most inflammatory insult the Roman dialect has produced in its long and glorious history, with the curse’s popularity now extending far beyond Lazio’s borders.
Damn you is the abbreviated form of Damn your mortacci or Damn the soul of your mortacciwhich roughly translates to ‘May the soul of your despicable dead ancestors be cursed’. How’s that for a creative insult?
What are you doing? Are you walking in front of me?! Damn you!
What are you doing? Are you cutting in front of me?! Damn you!
If you’re thinking that damn you may be a bit too offensive (and you’d have every right to think so), you should know that, as with many other Italian cursingits intensity and underlying significance depend on how exactly it’s uttered and the overall context of a conversation.
Antonella: “I fell in love with Edoardo unfortunately”
Edoardo: “But unfortunately, what’s your mortacci”I SPIT A LUNG #gfvip pic.twitter.com/jMf8YeSiSP
— sisonekevin (@oriele__era) November 7, 2022
So, while it can be (and often is) used to express great anger and annoyance at someone, damn you can also be used as a way to voice surprise, admiration or, in some cases, even happiness.
Good to see you after such a long time!
‘You shut up. You haven’t changed at all!
Good to see you after such a long time!
Damn you. You haven’t changed in the slightest.
–
But what goal did you score today? Damn you.
Damn. You scored a hell of a goal today.
It’s worth noting that the phrase is often used in the second person singular form, but can also be used in the third person singular (damn it), second person plural (mortacci yours) and third person plural (damn them), depending on who the target of the phrase is.
In some cases, a speaker may even choose to direct the ‘curse’ at themselves after doing something that they’re now regretting.
Damn my. I ate too much. I feel awful.
Damn me. I’ve eaten too much. I’m feeling sick.
Of course, you should use this phrase cautiously: hurling a damn you at the town hall clerk who’s lost your documents is very likely to land you in trouble.
Do you have a favourite Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.
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