My Top Ten Italish Words

These words are all in my Italian dictionary, so have allegedly entered “l’italiano standard”:

10. yuppismo
‘The attitude of “gli yuppie.”’

9. big
‘Important, influential person, e.g. “i big della finanza.”’

8. water
‘The porcelain bowl of the English-style toilet.’

7. thrilling
‘Thriller.’

6. top class
‘In passenger aeroplanes, the first class.’

5. house music
‘Discotheque music with a fast and obsessively repetitive rhythm.’

4. lie detector
‘Machine of truth.’

3. brown sugar
‘Grainy heroin of oriental provenance.’

2. hamster
(Here the dictionary notes that this is the English word for the animal, but that in Italian it refers to the animal’s fur. I don’t really want to think about the implications of this.)

…and my personal favourite:

1. walkie-cup
‘Waxed-paper cup with a cover and a straw.’