Best wishes from Italy: “affanculo i Maltesi”
A typical comment on the internet right now, which pretty much sums up the situation and our inability to see that these are human beings were ‘negotiating’ about, and not cargo:
Cosa avremmo dovuto fare?
Lasciarli morire di fame, di sete e ricoperti dei propri escrementi sommersi dalla mèrda e dalla dissenteria inevitabili in quella situazione?
Donne, bambini appena nati.
Saremmo stati TUTTI noi complici di questo assassinio di massa, pensiamoci quanto stiamo comodamente seduti in poltrona davanti a questa maledetta tastiera.
Affànculo i Maltesi, finalmente un gesto di cui l’ITALIA può andare fiera.
Grazie Enrico Letta, grazie ITALIA.
I’ll translate as best I can with my terrible Italian. Please correct me if I have the verbs, vocabulary or tenses wrong, as I work it out using the context (I would never be able to translate anything from English into Italian).
What should we have done?
Leave them to die of hunger, of thirst, covered in their own excrement, sunk in faeces and of the dysentery that is inevitable in a situation like that?
Women, newborn infants.
We should think how we would have ALL been complicit in this mass murder, even while sitting comfortably in our armchairs with our damned keyboards.
Sod the Maltese. At last, an act (the English ‘gesture’ does not quite have the same meaning as ‘gesto’) of which ITALY can be proud.
Thank you, Enrico Letta. Thank you, Italy.
I think many Maltese are about to find out (and the rest of us who knew it already will be reminded of it) that Italians in general regard the Maltese with the sort of superior, patronising contempt with which Maltese in general consider North Africans.
This sentiment lies more or less dormant when civilisation demands, well, civility. But at the first provocation, it comes right out.
60 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
damned keyboard.
Sod the Maltese …u qed tkun pulita ha nghidlek. Ghax affanculo aktar…. “You maltese go f…yourself”
[Daphne – Wrong. ‘Sod off’ is an accurate translation of ‘affanculo’, and it is anything but polite. I am astonished, really, at how many people don’t know what ‘sod off’ means. It’s short for ‘go and get yourself sodomised’.]
Li tfisser l-istess, ma jfissirx ghandha l-istess effett.
Li ridt nghid, li sod off tintuza b’mod komuni hafna, anke zewgt ihbieb – oh sod off. “U ejja come on..aghlaqlu”…
Biex niftehmu, jekk jghaddi xi driver u trid toffendih, l-Inglizi jghidulu aghar minn Sod off. It-Taljani jghidulu Vaffanculo.
U – li esperjenzajt xi ftit jew wisq iz-zewg pajjizi, li tghajjar taljan gay (hence vaffanculo) hija aktar meqjusa mbarazzanti milli Ingliz jghajjar lill-iehor gay.
Naturalment – jista jkun ic-cirku (limitat) ta’ persuni li gejt f kuntatt maghhom.
Few know that sod off means that, exactly
Sod in British English is a somewhat offensive, pejorative term for a person, derived from sodomite but rarely nowadays used with this meaning.
As an insult, it is generally teamed with ‘off’, i.e., ‘sod off’ meaning to get lost/go away/fuck off.
It can generally be applied to refer to a person in a most basic sense and frequently preceded by a modifying adjective (“That crazy sod almost ran me over!”). It can be used as many different parts of speech – e.g. in the imperative mood, “Sod off, you slag!”; or in adjective form, “sodding bastard”. Such uses as “Sod it!” and “Sod this” are often exclamations of frustration.
[Daphne – Rarely used nowadays with that meaning? You must be joking. That is exactly how it is used. The fact that some people don’t know what it means – just as Malta Today and the Police Minister don’t know what ‘give a toss’ means, does not change the meaning of the expression. Next you’re going to tell me that when people say ‘bugger off’ they mean nothing by it.]
Daphne, I was just trying to explain its meaning to others here who weren’t sure what it means exactly.
I actually agreed with your explanation and wasn’t against it.
My explanation was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sod_(word) and it was last updated on 11 June 2013.
Other sites explain it as follows:
http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml
Sod – This word has many uses. My father always used to say “Oh Sod!” or “Sod it!” if something went wrong and he didn’t want to swear too badly in front of the children. If someone is a sod or an “old sod” then it means they are a bit of a bastard or an old git. “Sod off” is like saying “piss off” or “get lost” & “sod you” means something like “f*** off”. It also means a chunk of lawn of course. You can usually tell the difference!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sod%20Off
Sod off – Screw off, get lost, go away, shut up, stop bothering/talking to me.
Sod off – British slang for piss off, fuck off, get lost. Anything in that fashion.
Sod off – British slang for “fuck off”.
So, basically, all major sites give the same explanation – more or less.
[Daphne – You father used to say ‘sod off’ when he didn’t want to swear too badly? Sod and bugger, as I recall, were banned in our household precisely because they were the worst of the lot. It took me a while to work out why, though, because the parents weren’t about to give a graphic description.]
Now, according to Google Translate, ‘vaffanculo’ (which is the correct Italian word) means ‘fuck you’.
According to WordReference.com, it means ‘fuck you’ or ‘fuck off’.
Principal Translations / Traduzioni principali
vaffanculo (volgare) (imprecazione per disprezzo, rabbia, irritazione) – (vulgar) fuck you; (vulgar) fuck off
Ma vaffanculo!
Well, fuck you!
Plus ….
‘vaffanculo’ found in these entries
Inglese:
bugger off – fuck off – fuck you – Fuck you! – screw you – Up yours!
http://www.wordreference.com/iten/vaffanculo
tastiera keyboard
tastiera – keyboard
‘We would have ALL been complicit in this mass murder, let’s think about that while we sit comfortably in our armchairs in front of this damned keyboard.’
*have been
Seems perfect to me. ‘Tastiera’ I think he’s referred to the keyboard.
Well, it seems he is right. No doubt about it. Any defence to this matter is baseless because we are talking about a particular matter which requires very deep considerations and profound humanitarian considerations. It’s a fact.
I take his offensive language at me as Maltese with humbleness and full understanding, even though I had not taken part in the decision by our government.
“What should we have done?
Left them to die of hunger, of thirst and covered in their own excrement, submersed in shit and subject to dysentery that is inevitable in that situation?
Women, new born infants.
We would have ALL been accomplices in this mass murder. Think of how comfortable we all are sitting on this armchair in front of this damned keyboard.
Fuck the Maltese! Finally an act of which ITALY can be proud.
Thank you Enrico Letta, Thank you ITALY.”
{I went for the crude translation that represents the crude words used! – with compliments!
[Daphne – Your translation of the swear-word is wholly inaccurate. Mine is correct. Affanculo does not mean fuck off; it means sod off. A sod is the recipient of buggery. Even I know what ‘culo’ means, which is saying something. The people who think that sod off isn’t a harsh insult have no idea what it means. I suspect you don’t either. It is one of the grossest insults in British English.]
It’s a misconception probably brought about by the BBC, which allowed “sod” but not “fuck”.
Remember Mr S. Baldrick?
@Baxxter: Not poor Sodoff Baldrick – the other urchins would never play with him, just like our poor Joey and Manuel! Not so sure about Joey, but Manuel surely never gave a toss!
@Daphne: Once we have delved into the very fine verbal (as opposed to physical) differences between the expressions “sod off” and “bugger off”, I will concede that your literal translation is indeed more accurate. Nevertheless, in spoken Italian the expression as used remains closer to “fuck off” than “sod off”. As an example, the Maltese expression “trid tiehdu f’s*rm*k bija?” would best translate to “are you taking the piss?” even though the respective translations could never convey the same meaning.
But beyond the semantics of these expressions, the message that has been conveyed is loud and clear. For so long as this is the opinion of a couple of Italians who probably already thought no better on us “piu’ sud del sud” peasants, its not that bad. What really worries me are the consequences of a similar sentiment spreading in the corridors of the various EU institutions, just because Joseph Muscat believes that his electoral mandate gives him the sacrosanct right to flirt with, and possibly flout, international law.
@ Daphne.
You are 100 percent correct on this. Definitely!
tastiera = keyboard
“tastiera” – keyboard
Tastiera Is keyboard in English.
Just when I’m about to go to Italy next week. I’m beginning to wonder what fun that’s going to be.
Joseph thought he won a battle, when in fact he’s losing the war
Tastiera is keyboard.
And “‘affanculo i Maltesi” is literally “go fuck yourself in the ass, Maltese people”. “Sod” doesn’t quite cut it I’m afraid.
[Daphne – Sod means exactly that, Roy. Come on, think a little – clever man like you. It comes from ‘sodomise/Sodom’. When you tell somebody to ‘sod off’, you’re telling them to be the ‘receiver’ of sodomy. When you tell somebody to ‘bugger off’, you are telling them to be the ‘perpetrator’ of sodomy. A sod receives. A bugger does it to somebody else. So you see, time spent on this website is never wasted. You learn something new every day.]
Touché, and thank you for the lesson.
I’ve always subconsciously associated “sod” with Baldrick, hence my oversight of the negative connotations it carries.
[Daphne – Well, I think that’s because of Irish sods (earth and grass), the ones used for fires and to roof over huts.]
tastiera = keyboard
[Daphne – Thank you.]
Well, I’m the first who would condemn the whole handling of the situation, however with all due respect to this guy, the migrants on board the ship had been provided with food, water and medical treatment by the Maltese government so his emotional outburst was very much out of place.
[Daphne – Think clearly, please. What were we planning on doing – leaving the tanker stranded right there while supplying it with food and water for the rest of eternity? The tanker had to take the people on board SOMEWHERE. That is exactly what it was all about.]
They were not dying of hunger, thirst or excessive amounts of excrement. This situation is being used to paint Malta into a corner and weaken its position in the immigration issue as well as in the EU in general.
[Daphne – ‘They were not dying of hunger, thirst of excessive amounts of excrement’. Within a few months, they would have been. I really cannot believe how everything has to be spelled out, even the things that this writer TOOK AS READ AND THAT’S WHY HE DIDN’T EXPLAIN THEM. If neither Italy nor Malta accepted the refugees, they would have been stranded PERMANENTLY on the tanker, unless a deus ex machina stepped in. Either one or the other had to accept them. Italy did. So yes, if Italy did not, and Malta did not, what exactly do you imagine would have happened? Would we have left them there, supplying them with food, water and medical treatment until they all grew old and died, or popped off through disease?]
The blame, of course, I give to the authorities who consistently never manage to see beyond the tip of their plump little noses.
The situation would have never have been allowed to persist for months. Not with the current political climate. At most the ECHR would have stepped in again and brought some sanity to the situation.
[Daphne – Go on then. How would it have done that? And how would it have been prevented from going on for months? By the simple exclamation that ‘something must be done’? Be specific.]
All aspects of a situation have to be considered, not just the emotional ones. This is not the last word we have heard about this incident. There are facts to be clarified and legal battles to be fought.
Throughout this whole incident everybody would have been better served by cooler heads rather than rash decisions.
The fact is that this has been a PR failure by Malta and a much needed win by Italy. The fact that the Italians are every bit as callous as anybody else in the treatment of refugees doesn’t change this in any way.
At this point in time, however, we do not have enough information to gauge whether Malta had a legal (or indeed a moral) leg to stand on and perceptions in the media can change overnight.
I hope that the government has good enough arguments to support its position though because if it was another off the cuff, “u ijja mhux xorta”, thing it’s going to be bad.
How is it that the refugees that were about to be flown back to Libya were saved at the last moment? Because Malta simply does not have the clout to flout decisions coming out of the international courts, especially rulings regarding human rights. Not if it doesn’t want to screw up all its international trade except with China.
For all his bluster Muscat knows that he is walking a very thin line here. He would be beyond stupid to bring on legal and economic sanctions (which there might still be, mind you), for the sake of barely a hundred migrants.
The truth is that we are currently all arguing from a position of ignorance. Nobody knows (yet) the exact goings on. What were the negotiations taking place between Malta and Italy? Did Italy demand some payback from Malta in order to relent and accept the immigrants (apart from the PR boost)? I’m not naive enough to believe they did it out of the goodness of their blessed little hearts.
“I think many Maltese are about to find out (and the rest of us who knew it already will be reminded of it) that Italians in general regard the Maltese with the sort of superior, patronising contempt with which Maltese in general consider North Africans.”
EXACTLY. Many of Steinbeck’s novels feature this sort of scale of contempt: oppression springs from more oppression. It’s a vicious cycle. Think of how weak and out of his game Muscat looks when glaring at Cameron. Yet, as Alexander Ball said in another comment, “He really showed those pregnant women and babies who’s the boss.”
The ones who do could find that Marrakesh place sort of cool but stick to Rimini.
The ones who don’t are the ones who visit during the shoulder months.
Just measure the decibels and tattoos.
Tastiera = keyboard.
[Daphne – Thank you. Now it makes sense.]
Why should the Maltese care what Italian politicians say about Malta. Italy is a dysfunctional state. The fact that many Sicilians emigrated to Malta proves it, not many Maltese settled in Sicily. Until recently Italy was run by Berlusconi, a convicted criminal.
I bet you the man on the street in Italy would agree with the Maltese government. Sorry to disagree with you on this one Daphne.
Paul, indeed Italy is a dysfunctional state.
With regards to your point about Berlusconi, that I’m not sure. He was the only prime minister who managed to keep a coalition government together for 5 years giving Italy some sort of political stability.
This had never happened before. Italy had 50 governments in 50 years prior to this achievement.
Is he a saint? Definitely not. But quite frankly nor am I.
[Daphne – Yes, but you’re not the prime minister of an EU member state, are you. Your comparison is false.]
No, but it take one to know one :)
Oh did he? In five years he lost half his party, halved his voter base, putting Grillo on the map and was replaced when Italy nearly plunged Europe into default.
Italy doesn’t have ‘governments’, it’s parliamentary system creates and changes executives, and that a council of ministers, when the house deems fit. Sometimes the president of the council is replaced, when Berlusconi resigned, he handed over to Monti.
Elections aren’t necessarily required, that’s for the president to decide.
But, even assuming that your interpretation is correct, Italy did the right thing. Malta did not. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has shown himself to be totally lacking in even the most basic of human considerations.
Berlusconi only became a convicted criminal after the last election. At no time while he was prime minister was he a convicted criminal.
Joseph Muscat may attempt to proudly display his picture with Pope Francis and with all the Muscat family, but I do not think that the Pope will showing that picture anywhere.
What a disgusting act by our government of clowns. Leaving people in need of assistance stranded on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, under the scorching August sun in temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.
Did Mallia send out the navy as well, with the gunboats maybe?
The quicker the Minister of Tourism realises that we have a very serious problem in the Italian market the better, as unless an immediate advertising/PR campaign is launched to improve our sagging image than Italian tourism figures will nosedive.
To be fair, it was the Italian government under Berlusconi which initiated the push-back policy some three years ago and Simon Busittil, then still an MEP, applauded it.
Now that Europe has forcefully installed a puppet government in Italy who has been made to implement harsh austerity measures, their bargaining power has been diminished considerably to the extent that they have to keep up appearances and walk the line as their new masters demand.
The Italians are being faced with dire economic repercussions resulting from poor fiscal performance over the years and historic tax evasion and whose only remedy is a bailout from the EU.
This is not about being humane, this is simply having to dance like circus bears whenever Brussels raises its voice.
the Italians can moan as much as they like, they have been skimming EU funds in tangenti and organized crime appalti (tenders) especially in the southern regions of Calabria and Sicily with Mafia houses like the Cosa Nostra for three decades and can hardly be taken as a perfect moral example.
The ‘Ndrangheta predominantly in the Calabria region has achieved almighty status and controls most of the government expenditure in the south.
Let us please take things into perspective and make reasonable comparisons.
This is ESPECIALLY about doing the humanitarian thing.
Issa jmur Joey Basbas jitlob xi bail-out in a few months’/years’ time! Ja cawla li hu.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should feel proud today that The Lega Nord – that xenophobic party in the North of Italy – has praised Malta on their official newspaper ‘La Padania.’
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Malta-stand-off-on-Salamis-finds-likely-backing-from-Italian-northern-league-20130807
Giovanni Letta has called Calderoli’s recent xenophobic and racist comments about a black Minister in the Italian government as a “shameful episode” (“pagina vergognosa”). Calderoli is an Italian Senator from the Lega.
http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2013-07-16/caso-calderoli-scontro-letta-063607.shtml?uuid=AbBoOaEI
One wonders what Letta must be thinking about Muscat. Rompic*glioni?
It’s Enrico Letta, not Giovanni Letta. Don’t know where I got Giovanni – he’s not even on Facebook…
Gianni Letta is Enrico’s uncle, who also happens to be Berlusconi’s advisor.
That’s why it’s ‘il governo Letta’.
I believe Giovanni Letta is Enrico’s uncle.
Historically Italians have looked down on Malta as “un’isola povera e disgraziata”.
The Sicilians envy us the British occupation but still consider the Island as “che miseria”.
“Meno male che avete avuto gli Inglesi. Del resto a Malta non c’e’ niente”.
These are briefly my impressions after mixing with these neighbours of ours for the past fifty years and visiting their country about 200 times.
They have a right to their opinion.
I have no intention whatsoever of arguing about that.
Muscat shouldn’t be proud to be associated with these people:
http://maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Malta-stand-off-on-Salamis-finds-likely-backing-from-Italian-northern-league-20130807
I don’t want to “over comment” on the affanculo meaning, but I think you’re getting the giving/receiving part wrong. Affanculo comes from vaffanculo, which in turn comes from “Va a fare un culo”, which translates (literally) to ‘Go and “do” and ass’, “do” meaning obviously to have sex with.
So yeah, I think it’s more bugger, than sod off.
Obviously i might be totally wrong and should never have acted like a jack-in-the-box.
Not to be anal about it (pun intended), but “v’affanculo” is actually a contraction for “va a fare IN culo” which would mean the exact opposite of what Bendu is saying.
Daphne is perfectly right. Sod off it is.
May I ask where the difference lies between those idiotic Maltese who used Ms. Malmstrom’s facebook pages to write abusive language and this illiterate idiot who did the very same thing but in regard to a whole nation? (Illiterate because he cannot even write swear words properly in his own language). As far as this contribution of yours is concerned I agree fully with you on one thing: your Italian is terrible, as is your knowledge of the Italian psyche. By the way, would you take it upon yourself to remind that illiterate idiot that his great grandfathers were bombing those poor people of Abbysinia with chemical bombs and all they could do to protect themselves was to run barefootedly into the forest? This was in 1911, and while you are at it maybe you would care to remind that illiterate idiot that hs country was the first ever country in the whole world to use chemical weapons. And guess against whom? Yes, against both nations (Ethipoia and Eritrea, collectively known as Abbysinia). Had the Italians not carried out those massacres maybe those poor souls would never have ended on that tanker. Thank you.
[Daphne – Who rattled YOUR cage, Peter? Go back to work, or are fiduciary services a little slow this morning? God, how tedious and tiresome so many Maltese men are. No wonder so many Maltese women are so keen to run off with foreigners. Keep a close eye on your wife, darling, if you still have one. She might even now be closely examing the Italian psyche while you’re setting up a trust for somebody whose great-grandfather bombed Abyssinians.]
Now I ask: and where does the difference lie between those Maltese writing on Ms. Malmstrom’s facebook pages and you? Two sides of the same coin? Being rude will not win you points.
[Daphne – The difference between those Maltese writing on Mrs Malmstrom’s Facebook page and me are too vast to quantify here, but the primary difference – for our immediate purposes – is that Mrs Malmstrom did not initiate proceedings by visiting their websites or Facebook pages to be rude to them. Also, being an EU Commissioner, and not somebody speaking in her own name as I am, instead of responding to them she merely ignored them and had one of her people delete their missives, which I am often sorely tempted to do with people like you, who lack even the most basic manners in understanding that you do not visit somebody’s space as their guest so as to insult them. This is not a news site. This is the personal space of the person who writes here.]
Vaffanculo – Vai a fare in culo?
While the global corporations suck Africa’s vast wealth and resources dry, the Western intelligence network ensures that division and conflict prevail, leading to a perpetual state of civil strife (ample evidence available).
Meanwhile, Western governments, including the EU, dish out billions of taxpayers’ money in aid that eventually gets lost in an audit trail that doesn’t exist.
Conflict and wars create economic and political refugees, of course, and these are forced down the throats of those same European taxpayers: ‘You take them in, you hearthless morons,’ they’re told, ‘they’re now your responsibility and you must comply with EU and Intercorporational obligations.’
Meanwhile in the Land of the Lillies, Lady Deafley is alarmed at little Joseph’s insolence towards our global overlords and EU patrons who write our most important laws.
And rightly so. As this most cherished Italian philosopher says: Affanculo i Maltesi.
@kev – You remind me of those dreary CNI so-called eurosceptics with a veiled sarcastic twist. Your widely generic assumptions and accusations, while partially correct, can only be meant to push the JosephPL agenda regarding the EU.
The Italian philosopher’s saying, in the context of what he said before, applies more to you than to ‘Lady Deafley’ even if you both happen to live on the ‘(is)land of (taparsi) Lillies’
Now there’s a nicely educated Lilliputian. I hope it truly is his Last Post.
As in Malta, there are a large number of Italian racists. The Lega Nord wants the new Ministry for foreigners abolished because they cannot accept Kyenge as a Cabinet Minister simply because she is black. For those who brought Berlusconi into this, Berlusconi and the rest of Italy’s headaches have nothing to do with this issue.
“Vaffanculo i maltesi” is as uncouth and vile as the comments posted by the Maltese idiots on Malmstrom’s facebook wall.
I live in Italy and although I do not think that Italians generally look down on the Maltese, I do believe that this issue regarding immigrants and the way that Malta has handled them has never gone down well here and rightly so, it is in breach of international obligations. Joseph Muscat has somewhat aggravated matters by his arrogant and aggressive stance towards the European Union.
As for the comments on Malmstrom’s wall – very embarrassing. I’ve only read those copied on this blog. I feel too ashamed to go and read the rest.
By the same yardstick that justly condemns vulgar Maltese comments directed against Malmstrom so also must one be just as condemnatory when an insolent Italian uses similar vulgar language against Malta and all Maltese. I find it incredible that any decent Maltese would stoop to condone that double standard.
In all fairness I believe both political parties when in government have serious difficulties dealing with the illegal immigration issue. I do not recall the detail as I lived abroad at the time but I believe there was in recent years a similar stand off between Malta and Italy over a ship carrying illegal immigrants. It made me ashamed to be Maltese at the time as Malta was rightly getting a lot of negative press.
As to racism and xenophobia, it is mostly in the last decade that Malta has become host to different nationalities. I remember growing up in the 70s when tourism meant fair men and women from the UK. Back then, travelling was not as affordable as it is now and my parents could never afford to send me on holiday. I had to save up and wait till I was 18 to go abroad.
This meant that I grew up in a sheltered society as did many others where I was for lack of access to diversity and information totally ignorant about the world around me. Though uncalled for but I recall on a trip to Tunisia where I found the image of a woman wearing a burka fascinating and was rudely told off by an English speaking person who said they were everyone in London. I had not yet travelled to or lived in London back then and the comment I made was a private one to my then Maltese partner. I felt humiliated by the condescending attitude of the person intruding on a private conversation and there was no way of explaining to him that what other societies take for granted may have been a novelty to the average Maltese during the golden years.
The first time I actually had a conversation with a coloured man was at university. I had never had occasion to cross paths with a coloured person in my life up to the age of 20 something.
I did not turn out to be racist because my intellect and natural disposition are not that way inclined despite the prejudice Maltese society tried to instill me at the time.
However, considering Malta only got a taste of normalcy from 1987 onwards, it is not so hard to imagine that the various forms of intolerance we are now experiencing are a direct result of the abnormal, backward way of life we lived before 1987 where we needed a visa to live in most European countries, there were restrictions on the amount of cash one could take out of the country on holiday, restriction on the importation of foreign goods etc. i.e. the golden years.
I’d say given time Maltese society will adjust.
I’m in no way condoning stranding a boat full of migrants – they should have been left to enter Malta. Period. What Malta did was plain wrong.
That said, I’m surprised at how quickly some Italians forgot that their own government returned migrants to Libya a few years back, and were rapped for it.