From the Sopranos last night, and I have heard it several times before.
I am probably not going to come close to even a phonetic spelling, but it’s something like “Stee-Gatzz”. In context, it seems that it means “my ass” or “bullshit”. As in, “You wanna give me $100 for this new BMW? Stigatz!” My roommate in college (he thought he was Sicilian, but he was really from the suburbs of Pgh) used to mumble it sometimes, too.
What is this word, and what is the literal translation? Is this a word in Italian? or some slang bastardization of Italian?
IANAGuido, but I grew up in Guidoland in the north Bronx. My friends (mostly Neopolitans) used the expression all the time.
In southern Italian dialect, it is “stu’cazz,” or “test’u’cazz.” In standard Italian, it would be “testa di cazzo,” or literally “dickhead.”
In my neighborhood, it was often used (by Italians and non-Italians alike) in the form “You know what I got out of that deal? I got gotz!” meaning, I got nothing, or I got screwed, etc.
“Sti cazz’” is plural of “stu cazz’” As has been mentioned, “cazz’” means penis (or more literally, cock). So “sti cazz’” means “these cocks” and “stu cazz’” is “this cock.”
“Cazzo” can also be used to mean “damn,” like when you’re screwed out of something - kind of a guido version of Homer Simpson’s “D’oh.”
I never knew what it meant, but I used to hear phrases at work like “stu gotts angul” and “gavia gotts” or “gobble-a gotts.” Most of the folks who said these were not Italian and had no idea what they meant.
Penis is MINGA-----I think that’s how its spelled; I’ve misplaced my Italian slang book. This book is also the place where I found the surprising “va fa in culo” thing too. We’ve always said “bafa.”, the Sicilian, version. I’ve run the scene, back and forth, in THE GODFATHER where Carlo is beating up Connie to see if her lips are forming a B or a V. Can’t tell.
STUGATZ----the “dickhead” meaning is what I’m used to.