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Can I get any example of the right use of "friends of mine"?
The phrase simply means miei amici, and is practically synonymous with my friends. It can be used in innumerable instances, for example:AdlerTS ha scritto:Can I get any example of the right use of "friends of mine"?
The original is hereIn Triestin dialect, an account of famous funerals in Trieste
FUNERAL CEREMONIES
The famous funerals ... yes! Alas, one was born and died at home, and sad though it may be, this too is all part of Trieste's history.
Only rarely was one born in hospital or died there, perhaps due to less money, less doctors, less bother for the government, but always with the support of the parish for the funeral rites ... then a quick dash on the hearse to the cemetery.
Until the mid 1800s, as I was always given to understand by my elders, coffins were carried on shoulders and the men who did that were called 'pizzigamorti' [lit 'bodypinchers'] .. even the name evokes a shiver, sending a drop of sweat down one's back...
But, alas, that's life .. or, rather, death! If someone breathed his last, it was the custom and legal requirement that a member of the deceased's family should go to church and report the matter, and to the verger, who's duty it was to toll the bell:
4 times for a woman
5 for a convict
6 for a common man
7 for a person in holy orders, such as a priest, etc.
thus people died at home and, instead of collapsing with floods of tears, it all ended in merriment. In the evening all gathered at the defunct's house and with the excuse of offering condolences [and now a fine play on words with 'scampava un bicierin', 'scampava' alludes to 'surviving' and 'to go for an outing', 'bicierin' (Italian 'bicchierino') is a 'little glass of something', but implying several, like the Scot's 'Och, he's fond of a wee dram'], which has become famous the world over. During the night of the wake, they all stuffed themselves like pigs, except of course for the widow, who's duty it was to serve them and not touch a thing herself.
If a child dies things were different, the women cried and lamented that an angel had gone to heaven, but all ate pancakes with white wine.
On seeing a funeral from a distance, all could tell, by tradition, whether the deceased was a man or a woman ...
If a woman, all the women were directly behind the coffin.
If a man, on the contrary, all the women came last.
At the cemetery, after the grave was filled (..with tears), all took part in the burial rites and, on finding themselves outside the cemetery, all would dash, perhaps with the excuse that it was cold (if in winter) to the nearest pub .. singing
'Whoever dies leaves the world
and the living press on ...'
Around 1875 the first funeral parlour was opened in Trieste named Zimolo, all first class and with plumed horses. After this all the newspapers reported outstanding funerals, like that of Count Revoltella, with his faithful Chinese servant, but before this there was:
The funeral procession of Maximillian of Austria whose body arrived on the battleship Novara. Impressive too was the funeral of the performing acrobat H. Thoure, the famous human-fly, who was 'sfracelà' [no equivalent in English, it means 'smashed to pieces', 'broke every bone in his body', 'completely shattered] at the famous Mauronier theatre.
Then there were the famous horses of Felice Venezian which drew the hearse carrying the body of the Infanta of Spain, Maria Theresa of Bourbon-Braganza, from the house in Via Lazzaretto to the church of San Giusto.
But the most sumptuous funeral procession was that of the Hereditary Prince and of his wife, assassinated at Sarajevo, where I was told they were taken from the ship Virus-Unitis and placed on their special hearses drawn by six horses, the Prince's decorated in gold, and that of the Princess in silver. (1914)
Maria Zanier (lacangrueta)
Please! Nanaia mi ha chiarito tutto!PeterG ha scritto:Nona Picia
I am so sorry![]()
I read your lovely message quickly and thought it was from Ron. The tease was meant fot him not you.
Peter