Thursday 30 October 2008

è nubile?

What's the convention with posting about different things on the same day? I'll split them up this time but fancy the idea of a single pot pourri posting.


The Italian words for single (i.e. unmarried) are "celibe" for a man and "nubile" for a woman. I'm presuming the English connotations apply here too. It's a very neat summary of the conflicting expectation and tempatations of the unmarried (at least historically) and an indicator of where blame would once have laid if anyone strayed. I think these terms are used only when completing forms rather than in spoken language, though I like to imagine them in a conversation at a singles bar.

- Hi, I'm Giacomo. Are you nubile?
- Yes. Are you celibate?
- Yes. Damn.
- Damn.

2 comments:

The Mighty Reptile said...

As I remember they have a series of different words for the stages of a relationship as well along the lines of favorite, intended, betrothed with loads of connotations attached to each.

Seffalice said...

Do you remember what they were? We could mess up several forms given the language tools.