Every time I read about these sort of verbals, I'm reminded of non-descript cricketer Eddo Brandes who came up with an answer for it far better than headbutting someone in the chest. Playing against Australia, the Zimbabwe tail-ender was waving his bat in the rough direction of deliveries from world class bowler Glenn McGrath. Finally getting frustrated that he couldn't get him out, MGrath got close to Brandes at the end of one run up and enquired "Why are you so fat?" Brandes answer? "Because everytime I [shag] your wife, she gives me a cookie."
Bismark - was it also Brandes who came to the crease accompanied by a volley of abuse from Mark Waugh about not being "a good enough cricketer to be on the same pitch with the best players in the world," and responed with: "I might not be the best player in the world, Mark, but at least I'm the best player in my family." Actually, no, it was Jimmy Ormond apparently. More sledging here.
At the time, lip readers noted quite a bit more than Materazzi is letting on. I think the "son of a terrorist whore" thing seemed to be the popular assessment. And Zidane himself cleared that one up in his French interview - no terrar! slurs. And IIRC, the lipreaders who threw that rumour about were Brazilian. Whether or not Materazzi is an ass, as far as I'm concerned FIFA set a fantastically crappy precedent for penalizing the shit-talking player. Are they really going to throw penalties about like candy just because a player says "My grandmomma plays better than you & she dead."?! Really now... FYI Comments about one's sister (whether or not you know they have one) are the last stop before fisticuffs in Italian. It's a borderline thing where you might have a punch thrown at you, but more likely than not the other party will just reply with an insult to your sister. If you are looking for a real fight, though, that's when you bring in the mamma insults. The only other insult that I can think of that is almost equally offensive is saying someone is cornuto (cuckhold): the head banger's/Hook 'em Horns hand symbol (index & pinky finger up, other fingers in a fist) denotes cornuto and is a million times worse that flipping the bird. Strangely, the same hand gesture upside down with pinky & index resting on a flat surface wards off the evil eye. /random Italian insult info
/looking for random Italian to practice my newfound knowledge on
Yo sister, TBH! ;)
Strangely, the same hand gesture upside down with pinky & index resting on a flat surface wards off the evil eye. My mother wore this charm on a chain around her next for as long as she was alive. I still have it somewhere.
/Puts romakimmy's name on "The List."
An attempt at gaining good PR for Materazzi ahead of the Euro qualifier against France ding ding ding we have a winner! (perhaps he can go on Italy's equivalent of Oprah/Larry king and cry some)
The only U.S. equivalent I can think of is Woody Hayes clotheslining the kid who made the interception in the bowl game. Woody punched Charlie Bauman in the 1978 gator bowl
Zidane's sister is a robot
+1 hawkguy
It's fascinating to me that cliche'd "your sister/mother" insults consitute fighting words in italy. Those are playground staples in the us, where the most creative riff on them earns uproarious laughter rather than violent reprisals.
