Here at Skippyland Elementary we have the best security. Our "security " desk is manned by an 82-year old woman who weighs about 100 pounds soaking wet. Her name is Miss Filly and she came to Skippyland direct from Italy.Filly is the most beloved person here at our school. She has been working here for 26 years. A few of the teachers in our school know Miss Filly from the time they were students in our school.
Like I said, Miss Filly is from Italy. And even though she's been here for 51 years, her Italian accent is as heavy as the day she stepped foot in this country.
Here are a few Filly-isms and what they mean:
Ah leen can you a fixa the hink in da machine
Eileen, the copier needs new ink.
Can you calla the plum to fix my lick
Can you call the plumber to fix my leak
feela bad
feel better ( this is what she tells the children when they go home sick)
She looks lika hook
she looks like a hooker
Mrs. Garlic
Mrs. Gallagher (a teacher)
Da Teach
The Teacher
If there's a phrase you would like the "Filly" translation for, leave it in comments. It will take me two weeks to get them from her, since we are on Winter vacation the next two weeks.
You can't make this stuff up!
6 comments:
That is SO funny.
I lived for about three years in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn ... and all the little old Italian ladies sat out on their front stoops watching EVERYTHING that went on the neighborhood. And so many times, I tried to engage one or another of these women (who, by the way, were, like Filly, almost ALWAYS the tiniest little things you could imagine ... plus they had their hair in fishnets and and dressed all in black ... I wonder if that meant they were widows?) in conversation, just to be neighborly, you know? We would start talking, but they spoke just as you wrote, and I could NEVER understand them. LOL.
I should have tried harder, because these little ladies are a dying breed.
Anita....Filly is one of my most favorite people in the world. She is full of interesting stories and is really fun to listen to. She has a heart of gold and my son Zeb loves her gravy (marinara sauce to us non-italians). I can't imagine my school without her there.
I lived virtually all my life in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Your 'fillyisms' bring back all the sounds I grew up with and can still hear on a Sunday morning as I imagine the gravey being cooked :)
She hasn't asked anybody to lick a da hink, has she?
I could write the Filly translations--my grandparents were off the boat from Sicily and never lost their very heavy accents. Filly makes me feel nostalgic. Thanks, Skippy.
And Anita: Yes. The older Italian ladies were supposed to wear black after their husbands died (unless they remarried...and they had better have a good reason for that).
I just want you to know I keep coming back and reading these because they make me laugh and they make me happy. Thanks so much for posting.
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