‘Io arrivo in 20 minuti’
Yeah, sure you will Giuseppe McItaliano.
‘Ci vuole 30 minuti in Auto’
Oh does it, Gianfranco Tagliatelle?
‘Possiamo vederci in 25…
No that’s it, Stop right there Marco di Parmigiano. How much time do you all actually mean? I am not turning up again to meet you in 25 minutes if you are going to arrive an hour later.
Well I mean I’ll arrive in 25 minutes because that’s how long the drive takes…
Oh really, how far is the drive?
50km
…???
…
…
That will take longer than 25 minutes…
No, take 25 minute.
I’ve actually had this last conversation here before. I’ve then joked that he must mean ‘Italian minutes’, because Italians seem to be operating on a different time and are always late. In fact, I make this joke quite often.
But no-one ever laughs. Instead they just ask me what I mean by Italian minutes, and then arrive an hour late.
And here’s the 11th thing you need to know about Italy before you go: don’t you EVER call people food names, Sammy Kidney-Pie.
Well I like the name Sammy Kidney-pie, you can use it as you wish Alois.
I’m glad you do! I didn’t mean it to sound offensive at all, as I’m sure you didn’t mean any offense either. Nevertheless, it is a fact worth knowing that Italians are much more supercilious than Englishmen about being called after any item on their standard diet. Just wanted to share the information.
No don’t worry I didn’t take any offence 🙂