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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007Capisce
Capisce - What language is this word? Meaning what? jerrys@skcho.com had it: > Capisce - What language is this word? Meaning what? It's Italian; it's usually used as a question, meaning "Do you understand?" in a rather threatening manner, possibly coming from the Mafia. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capisce  SignatureDavid ===== > jerrys@skcho.com had it: > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Mafia. > http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capisce It's also used by millions of non-threatening non-Mafia Italians. SignaturePeter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists, and I can no longer receive mail at my newcastle.edu.au addresses. The optusnet address could disappear at any time. >> jerrys@skcho.com had it: >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >It's also used by millions of non-threatening non-Mafia Italians. I'm glad you brought that up. I have a friend who is of Italian stock and who uses the term "Capisce?" frequently. I've always thought he was a mild-mannered accountant. I found it alarming to think that he was a Mafioso. SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL [[snip] > I'm glad you brought that up. I have a friend who is of Italian stock > and who uses the term "Capisce?" frequently. I've always thought he > was a mild-mannered accountant. I found it alarming to think that he > was a Mafioso. [snip] "Capeesh" seems to be another AmE/Italish spelling (out of eight or so), following the "goomba" speech pattern discussed by a linguistics professor at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2qd7am Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego peter@ozebelgDieSpammers.org had it: > > jerrys@skcho.com had it: > > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > It's also used by millions of non-threatening non-Mafia Italians. True. I meant its use in otherwise non-Italian English. SignatureDavid ===== [snip] > It's Italian; it's usually used as a question, meaning "Do you > understand?" in a rather threatening manner, possibly coming from the > Mafia.http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capisce [snip] I'm wondering why the Wiki article didn't try to get earlier usages in movies (the word was cliché for decades); anyway, just searching "Quotes" at IMDB.com yielded: 1. "M*A*S*H" (1972) Frank Burns: Zing! That's a big kiss-off. Capice? I tend to, uh, shoot first and ask questions later. Little habit I have. But you'll find out fast if you get cute. We straight on that? Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego On 30 Jan 2007, tinwhistler wrote > [snip] >> It's Italian; it's usually used as a question, meaning "Do you [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I'm wondering why the Wiki article didn't try to get earlier > usages in movies (the word was cliché for decades); Ummmm....because the nature of Wikipedia articles means that that sort of attention to detail is entirely random? Just a wild guess, really..... SignatureCheers, Harvey Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van |
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