# Seeking captain's conversation with Coast Guard in original Italian **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877 "2012-01-18T04:25:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/1 "2012-01-18T04:25:45Z")
I am finding lots of [translations](http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/17/cruise-italy-call-transcript.html) of the Italian captain’s conversation with the Coast Guard. I am having trouble googling the original Italian. Have any pointers for googling for a non-English site? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/2 "2012-01-18T04:33:46Z")
Do you mean the audio, or a transcript? The audio is available on La Repubblica: [1](http://video.repubblica.it/dossier/naufragio-giglio-costa-concordia/la-capitaneria-a-schettino-torni-subito-a-bordo/85914/84303), [2](http://video.repubblica.it/dossier/naufragio-giglio-costa-concordia/la-capitaneria-a-schettino-ma-con-100-persone-a-bordo-lei-abbandona-la-nave/85919?video). [Here’s the conversation with concurrent subtitles](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM9sam2u_Tk). Here’s Italian transcripts of [the first call](http://tempolibero.blogosfere.it/2012/01/naufragio-costa-concordia-la-prima-telefonata-tra-il-comandante-schettino-e-la-capitaneria-di-porto.html) and [the second call](http://tempolibero.blogosfere.it/2012/01/naufragio-costa-concordia-la-seconda-telefonata-tra-schettino-e-la-capitaneria-di-porto.html). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/3 "2012-01-18T11:26:02Z")
I was looking for the transcripts, the audio is a plus. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/4 "2012-01-18T11:38:51Z")
BTW the Google tip: I put “transcript” into Google Translate to get the Italian (“trascrizione”), then Googled “Costa Concordia trascrizione”. ETA: I also used google.it instead of .com ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/5 "2012-01-18T18:19:47Z")
Thanks for the tips, **jjimm**. I do not habitually look at Italian web sites but I know a smattering of Italian and wanted to see the original version just as an exercise. I didn’t even know there was a google.it. And looking for \*trascrizione \*was one of those :smack: moments. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/6 "2012-01-19T00:22:16Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Thanks for the tips, **jjimm**. I do not habitually look at Italian web sites but I know a smattering of Italian and wanted to see the original version just as an exercise. I didn’t even know there was a google.it. And looking for \*trascrizione \*was one of those :smack: moments. There’s a google.prettymucheverycountryintheworld ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/7 "2012-01-19T05:32:41Z")
As to the translation, the now-famous phrase “va abordo, cazzo,” was translated, in the NY Post, picking up a British feed, as “get on board, for fuck’s sake.” The epithet is never used in America. One of the big Italian dailys picked \*it’s[/I headline and translated it–not aware of the pun–referring to him as “chicken of the sea.” (Is calling someone a chicken means he’s a coward in Italian? Guess so.) “Cazzo,” like many epithets, has multiple meanins and uses. It can mean, “get on board, you prick/asshole.” For Americans, at least, I would translate it as “Get the fuck on board.” One large Brit newspaper (I forget which) didn’t even use the old "$&@!"standby. They wrote the translation as “get on board, damnit!” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/8 "2012-01-19T05:38:29Z")
From an Englishman’s point of view, “for fuck’s sake” is perfect. Literally “cazzo” means “dick”, though as you say it is as versatile as “fuck” is in English. The ways in which my girlfriend uses it would require an entire dictionary to explain… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/9 "2012-01-20T21:02:51Z")
Italian transcripts are popping up all over the Net now (and in printed dailys). [Here](http://grognards2011.blogspot.com/2012/01/concordia-trascrizione-integrale.html) is one on-line. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/10 "2012-01-20T22:09:37Z")
**Leo Bloom** : Did you see the advertisement in your link for _Affonda la Flotta Schettino Limited Edition_ (Schettino Limited Edition Battleship)? I’m wondering what the rules are for that one. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/11 "2012-01-20T22:26:04Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > As to the translation, the now-famous phrase “va abordo, cazzo,” was translated, in the NY Post, picking up a British feed, as “get on board, for fuck’s sake.” The epithet is never used in America. One of the big Italian dailys picked \*it’s[/I headline and translated it–not aware of the pun–referring to him as “chicken of the sea.” > > (Is calling someone a chicken means he’s a coward in Italian? Guess so.) > > “Cazzo,” like many epithets, has multiple meanins and uses. It can mean, “get on board, you prick/asshole.” For Americans, at least, I would translate it as “Get the fuck on board.” > > One large Brit newspaper (I forget which) didn’t even use the old "$&@!"standby. They wrote the translation as “get on board, damnit!” Wait, do you mean Americans don’t say “for fuck’s sake”? We certainly do. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/12 "2012-01-21T00:18:00Z")
God, that conversation’s even more infuriating in the original. You can practically hear the Coast Guard wanting to reach through the airwaves and kick the captain’s pathetic arse straight onto the ship. In this context I definitely wouldn’t translate ‘cazzo’ as ‘prick’ or ‘asshole’. It’s a furious emphasis, not an insult. I agree with jjimm - ‘for fuck’s sake’ is just about perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/13 "2012-01-21T01:46:14Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Wait, do you mean Americans don’t say “for fuck’s sake”? We certainly do. Nope. We see it in movies. I like it when Daniel Craig says it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/14 "2012-01-21T02:02:13Z")
Me and the gf had a chat about this last night, and she agreed that “for fuck’s sake” is really the only suitable translation into British English of the sense of De Falco’s order. (Nominative determinism: isn’t De Falco a cooler name that Schettino? [Which by the way, despite the efforts of many English-language newsreaders, is pronounced sket-TEE-no.]) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/15 "2012-01-21T03:25:53Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Nope. We see it in movies. I like it when Daniel Craig says it. I say it plenty. Maybe I got it from movies, but it doesn’t sound “British” like, I don’t know, “sod off, you bugger”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/16 "2012-01-21T03:30:37Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I say it plenty. Maybe I got it from movies, but it doesn’t sound “British” like, I don’t know, “sod off, you bugger”. I agree with you. I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t say “for fuck’s sake” in some context. And I am not really exaggerating, either. It’s an extremely common phrase in my experience. That said, I’ve spent many years in an environment with a lot of British English, so perhaps I picked it up there, but it seems completely natural in American English to me. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/17 "2012-01-21T03:33:26Z")
OK, [here’s a thread on another message board discussing the phrase](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=90633). Note: > [@](#): > > It is not as common in the US as I believe it is in other English-speaking countries, although it does exist. > > […] > > I don’t agree at all! In fact, I think it’s used more often in the US & Canada than it is in the UK. They use “bloody” more than “fuck”. > > […] > > I’d say it started as a fairly British expression, but I agree that it is now used pretty widely in North America as well. > > Of course, you can’t substitute ‘bloody’ for ‘fuck’ in the expression ‘for fuck’s sake’. I’m fairly confident it is common in my dialect of American English, and I don’t think this is something I’ve picked up in my life away from the US. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/18 "2012-01-21T03:58:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I agree with you. I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t say “for fuck’s sake” in some context. And I am not really exaggerating, either. It’s an extremely common phrase in my experience. That said, I’ve spent many years in an environment with a lot of British English, so perhaps I picked it up there, but it seems completely natural in American English to me. For a few years I was a regular in a bar in Harrisburg, PA. I was well known among the other regulars since I guess they don’t get many Scottish people there. In any case, whenever they wanted to parody me, they would yell “fer fucks sake!” I’m not totally sure that it was the phrase rather than the accent they picked up on. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-captains-conversation-with-coast-guard-in-original-italian/609877/19 "2012-01-21T04:16:26Z")
I can’t think of any other maritime disaster in which the captain had to be _ordered_ to return to his ship to do his #\*&@^! job. Shameful.