# "Hey, jadrool!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500 "2004-05-28T13:14:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/1 "2004-05-28T13:14:43Z")
In the song \*Mambo Italiano, \*there’s a phrase “Hey, jadrool!” What exactly does “jadrool” mean? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/2 "2004-05-28T13:28:21Z")
It’s slangy Italian and vaguely means “sucker” or “fool” to the best of my recollection. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/3 "2004-05-28T13:56:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > In the song \*Mambo Italiano, \*there’s a phrase “Hey, jadrool!” What exactly does “jadrool” mean? My recollection of my Italian relatives is hazy, but I think it literally means “cucumber” in slang, but figuratively, it means a schmucky person. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/4 "2004-05-28T15:34:04Z")
The word in Italian is “cetriolo,” and yes, it literally means “cucumber.” I always heard it used to refer to someone as an idiot or a moron. The precise shades of meaning probably have a lot of local variations. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/5 "2004-05-28T15:48:02Z")
How on earth does “cetriolo” get pronounced anything like “jadrool”? I’ve lots of Italians in my family, and I just don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/6 "2004-05-28T17:05:38Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > How on earth does “cetriolo” get pronounced anything like “jadrool”? I’ve lots of Italians in my family, and I just don’t see it. Well, if you start with “chay-tree-OH-loh,” and say it fast and loose, it isn’t all that far to “ja-DROOL.” ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/7 "2004-05-28T19:14:26Z")
I’ve noticed that written Italian bears almost no resemblance to the way most Italians in my family pronounce anything. Pasta e fagioli becomes “pasta fazool”; ricotta is “reegawt”, and I have yet to figure out how to spell the word I grew up hearing as “mishcombrool”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/8 "2004-05-28T21:03:28Z")
Just listen to how they pronounce things on _The Sopranos_ – Madonna --\> Maron capicolla --\> gabbagool comare --\> goomah All the unvoiced plosives [k t p] become voiced [g d b]. [o] becomes (“oo”). And the ends of words are dropped off. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/9 "2004-05-28T21:04:51Z")
Oh, and other unvoiced sounds become voiced, like the “ch” [tS] sound becomes “j” [dZ}. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/10 "2004-05-28T21:10:17Z")
More: compare --\> goombah cafone --\> gavon u’pazzu --\> oobatz stu cazzo or u’ cazzu --\> stugots ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/11 "2004-05-28T21:14:42Z")
My understanding is that these pronunciations don’t come from any authentic Italian dialect. Rather, they are from Italian-_American_ pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/12 "2004-05-28T22:25:15Z")
Actually, a lot of those pronunciations come from southern Italian (e.g., Calabrese and Napolitano, er, “Nabolidan”) and Sicilian dialects. There may well have been some morphing here in the New World, but given that I’ve heard native Italian speakers using such pronunciations I doubt the changes are extensive. Just for fun, [here’s a glossary of terms used in _The Sopranos_](http://home.comcast.net/~tcguitarmagazine/glossary.pdf) (note: PDF file). ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/13 "2004-05-28T23:23:03Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > Well, if you start with “chay-tree-OH-loh,” and say it fast and loose, it isn’t all that far to “ja-DROOL.” Probably a stretch. I just can’t make the connection. _Jadrool_ shows up in print in the 1960’s. It, of course, probably existed before that in speech. But none of my sources offer a derivation from a specific word. They mostly include it with other words, many of which come about in American-Italian English. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/14 "2004-05-29T00:01:32Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > Actually, a lot of those pronunciations come from southern Italian (e.g., Calabrese and Napolitano, er, “Nabolidan”) and Sicilian dialects. There may well have been some morphing here in the New World, but given that I’ve heard native Italian speakers using such pronunciations I doubt the changes are extensive. > > Just for fun, [here’s a glossary of terms used in _The Sopranos_](http://home.comcast.net/~tcguitarmagazine/glossary.pdf) (note: PDF file). That website might be fun, but when it says that _goombah_ comes from a …[Southern Italian] dialect form of “compaesano” … …he’s just not likely correct. As others have said, it almost certainly comes from _compare_. Without trying to sound combative, _where_ did you hear those native Italian speakers using such pronunciations? In NYC or Italy? How long had they been in the US? It would be fascinating to go back 50-75 years in Italy and see if you heard the kinds of pronunciation that you would more likely hear in an Italian-American neighborhood in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/15 "2004-05-29T14:24:31Z")
Well, my family is half Sicilian and half Napolitano. When I was growing up, my great-grandparents on Dad’s side and my grandfather on Mom’s were the only truly native Italian speakers in the family and any pronunciation I know came from them. On Dad’s side, Nonna spoke perfect English with no accent whatsoever, but Papa never really got the hang of English and in fact sounded rather a lot like Father Guido Sarducci. Grampa (Mom’s dad) spoke Italian exclusively until he was in his early 30s. All of these people came to Chicago directly from Italy between 1912 and 1924. I grew up hearing Italian a lot, but never learned to speak, read and write it really (although I can swear fluently in Italian). My grands used to speak to me in Italian and I would answer in English. With all that in mind, I’d have to say that the “pidgin” Italian I’ve heard on the Sopranos sounds awfully authentic to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/16 "2004-05-29T14:47:12Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Probably a stretch. I just can’t make the connection. I already told you the connection. Apply these rules: 1. Unvoiced consonants become voiced 2. [o] becomes , Complex vowel and consonant clusters are simplified; vowels in unaccented syllables tend towards schwa [@] 3. The endings of words are dropped so ce-tri-o-lo [tSe-tri-o-lo] Apply rule 1. → je-dri-o-lo [dZe-dri-o-lo] Apply rule 2. → j@-dru-lu [dZ@-dru-lu] Apply rule 3. → j@-drul [dZ@-drul] ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/17 "2004-05-29T16:24:09Z")
**acsenray** - can you do that process in reverse? Because I’d REALLY love to know where that “mishcombrool” thing might have come from, and I haven’t been able to find anyone to translate it for me. (FTR, as far as I can tell, it means “all messed up.”) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/18 "2004-05-29T23:39:53Z")
**acsenray**. Thanks. I didn’t truly read your explanation before I posted. I was probably more concerned that it almost certainly comes from Italian-American rather than pure Italian. Like so many of the slang Italian words from the last 50-75 years. ---
**Author:** ![Madone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Madone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-jadrool/247500/19 "2020-04-30T01:09:49Z")
Jesus Mary an Joseph. Skeezareech