# Two Italian language (via "The Sopranos") terms **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198 "2002-09-05T22:29:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/1 "2002-09-05T22:29:15Z")
Pardon my not even attempting to get the spelling right on these. Any language in which _cumare_ comes out sounding like _goomah_ is one whose spelling I don’t even stand a chance of mastering. 🙂 The first term I’ve heard only on _The Sopranos_. It is _why-oh_, pronounced basically like the first part of _Wyoming_, and seems to refer to the mobsters speficially. Angie Bompensiero uses it when she says in an episode late in season 3 something along the lines of, “Well, we married these _why-ohs_.” The second term I first heard on _Car Talk_, but have also heard come from the screaming lips of Furio on _The Sopranos_, after he is shot in the thigh. It sounds like _porka meezaylia_ when Tom and Ray say it. Any help greatly appreciated. Especially spelling help. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/2 "2002-09-06T02:42:19Z")
In English, “YO” means young/youth offender. An modernization of JD. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/3 "2002-09-06T12:54:02Z")
Wasn’t there also a street gang in NYC called the Why-ohs? The other term is _porca miseria_, which is literally translated as “pig misery.” My mother says it a lot. It’s a euphemism for the much more offensive _porco Dio_, which means “pig God.” (Pardon my Italian.) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/4 "2002-09-06T12:58:51Z")
Also, straight-up Italian is a completely phonetic language. _Cumare_ is pronounced “coo - MAH - reh/ray” (in between the two on the last syllable). It’s because of regional dialects and accents that you get things like “goomah” from _cumare_. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/5 "2002-09-06T14:26:31Z")
In Neapolitan dialect, doesn’t _pizza_ turn into “ahbeets”? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/6 "2002-09-06T14:47:04Z")
Neidhart - I grew up in a very ethnic Sicilian family, and I don’t think it’s just the Neapolitans. Who woulda guessed that the word I knew to be pronounced “gollymod” would be spelled “calamari”? For that matter, my mother always says “madron!”… turns out the correct spelling for THAT is “Madonna”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/7 "2002-09-06T14:49:58Z")
**ftg** , that explanation for _YO_ is good enough for me, though it does seem strange to hear corrections officer talk coming from Angie Bompensiero’s mouth. 🙂 **gallows fodder** , thanks for the _porca miseria_. ---
**Author:** ![Agentakbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Agentakbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agentakbar)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/8 "2002-09-06T21:14:06Z")
Hi. I grew up in Naples, and have lived the last few years in New York. What you describe as “why-oh” is actually from the word “guaglione” (pronounced, oddly enough, why-on, with the n dropping off at the end,) which is Napulitano for boy/guy. Vanni ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-italian-language-via-the-sopranos-terms/127198/9 "2002-09-06T21:49:57Z")
Too cool. Thanks, **Agentakbar**.