Jesse Sheidlower: Today in #FitToPrint, the NYC, unusually, _does_ print an offensive word that an entire article is about. Perhaps it's more OK because it's the Italian word "frociaggine" rather than an English term? www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/w...

Today in #FitToPrint, the NYC, unusually, _does_ print an offensive word that an entire article is about. Perhaps it's more OK because it's the Italian word "frociaggine" rather than an English term? www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/w...

Pope Issues Apology After Reports That He Used Offensive Slang Wordwww.nytimes.com Francis’ remark, referring to gay men, came during what was supposed to be a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops last week.

That obviously should have been "NYT". Also I see that @bcdreyer.bsky.social just posted about this too.

The only Italian derogatory term for homosexuals I know is finocchio, so I guess I've learned something today!

When I lived over there, I was told that "finocchio" (fennel) is Italian rhyming slang for "frocio" or "froscio", which is the actual derogatory word for a gay guy. To dip deeper into pedantry: "finocchio" as a slur is from Venetian dialect "fenocio" (also fennel), which sounds a lot like "froscio."

I love knowing all this!

Unspoken in all this is apparently that Venice is supposedly full of gay guys and this is why lots of pejorative words for gay men (e.g., "checca" drag queen/bottom) are from Venetian dialect and non-Venetian gay writers like Pasolini adopted Venetian dialect to write their stuff.

an exhaustive list of gay italian slang (sicilian ideally) is needed. for research.

Huh. I've been to Venice three times, and it struck me as a rather gay-less place, but I wasn't there on a, y'know, shopping expedition. Rome, on the other hand...

Sufficiently important people swearing in sufficiently newsworthy ways get to be quoted uncensored: itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languag...

Language Log: Taking shit from the Presidentitre.cis.upenn.edu

Yeah, they pointedly don't translate it

Post