Growing up in NYC we always used the phrase, "Fanabala" to mean, "Go to hell." It's a bastardized version of the phrase, "va fa Napoli” which literally means, "go to Naples."
Why is that phrase used as it was (is)? Because the two largest groups of Italians that settled in NYC were Neapolitans and Sicilians. Lots of strife between the two. Those of Sicilian descent would use the term disparagingly.
I never truly understood until I visited Naples for the first time. It is a sewer. "Go to hell" is a kindness.
Great Margarita pizza, though.
Growing up in NYC we always used the phrase, "Fanabala" to mean, "Go to hell."
It's a bastardized version of the phrase, "va fa Napoli” which literally means, "go to Naples."
Why is that phrase used as it was (is)?
Because the two largest groups of Italians that settled in NYC were Neapolitans and Sicilians. Lots of strife between the two.
Those of Sicilian descent would use the term disparagingly.
I never truly understood until I visited Naples for the first time. It is a sewer. "Go to hell" is a kindness.
Great Margarita pizza, though.
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