11594 An italian husband's prayer...

My Italian is not brilliant, so I'll have a stab before the experts do.
'Lord, I pray that my wife will remain faithful, if not, I pray that I shan't know about it. Should I come to know, I pray that I won't care less'

I'm no linguist, but I suspect that the final phrase re "un corno" is to do with being "cuckolded" ? About as bad as it gets. So goodness only knows how that would translate today.

Un corno is a horn according to Babelfish.

I checked "cuckolded" in Thesaurus- no equivalent.

The dictionary gives this.

cuckolded - 1 dictionary result
cuck·old * **(k?k'?ld, k??k'-) *Pronunciation Key*
n.** A man married to an unfaithful wife.
tr.v.** cuck·old·ed, cuck·old·ing, cuck·olds
To make a cuckold of.

[Middle English cokewald, from Anglo-Norman *cucuald, from cucu, the cuckoo, from Vulgar Latin *cucc?lus, from Latin cuc?lus.]
Word History: The allusion to the cuckoo on which the word cuckold is based may not be appreciated by those unfamiliar with the nesting habits of certain varieties of this bird. The female of some Old World cuckoos lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving them to be cared for by the resident nesters. This parasitic tendency has given the female bird a figurative reputation for unfaithfulness as well. Hence in Old French we find the word cucuault, composed of cocu, "cuckoo, cuckold," and the pejorative suffix -ald and used to designate a husband whose wife has wandered afield like the female cuckoo. An earlier assumed form of the Old French word was borrowed into Middle English by way of Anglo-Norman. Middle English cokewold, the ancestor of Modern English cuckold, is first recorded in a work written around 1250.

Stella is right and her translation is correct. "Non me importi un corno" is an idiom which can be translated as i couldn't care less or I couldn't give a damn.

It is the irregular feminine plural of corno (le corna) that is used to mean cuckolding: mettere/fare le corna.
The masculine plural is also used: i corni di un dilemma, i corni della luna

I'm not the chief youtube poster here, but....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8E5Rs9GAb8]YouTube - Waylon Jennings & Les Paul - I Really Don't Want To Know[/ame]

Or, for the traduced ladies, the very best version

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEBWuvthy1A[/ame]

I always thought the prayer was

Dear God

Please don't let her, when she turns 35, put on 4 stone, shrink a foot, grow a moustache and start wearing black.

.

Your wife would only start wearing black on your death Alan - so would you care - and even if you did - what could you do about it anyway?

Black is the new liberation! :bigergrin:

[quote=juliancoll;109950]Your wife would only start wearing black on your death Alan - so would you care - ...........:[/quote]

perhaps its a subtle way of telling God you don't want to die when your wife reaches 35?

Anyway - what about the shrinkage, weight and hair gain requests?

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Just a word of warning about the sign for "Cornuto" - be careful if/how you ever decide to use it! It's considered a great insult in places like Naples. Although it may be taken as a joke between friends to place your hand behind someones head and make this sign - I certainly would not consider using it and especially when having an argument/disagreement with anyone. It's vulgar and tempers will flare.