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Lesson Introduction
Going out to eat with friends normally ends in one of two ways: either one person offers to pay for the group, or there is a mess of people trying to divide the bill and pay their own way. In today's lesson you'll hear how some Italians handle the second of these two situations...
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salsagrrl375 says
October 23, 2008
Well, the guy in this dialogue may be a mooch, but I've been stuck paying many times the price of what I ordered because the total bill was divided "alla romana" and that sucks! Asking to pay for what you ordered isn't necessarily a sign of being a mooch--sometimes it's a sign that you ordered only what you could afford, and the other diners are using you to subsidize their expensive meals. :-\
ire_ne says
October 23, 2008
I agree with you salsagrrl375.
I always go out for dinner with my friends and they are "manzi" "bullocks" so they always eat twice or three times more than me. Last year I asked them to not pay "alla romana" because it's not fair. And they agree with me. Or, simply, when they wanna go out for dinner I don't go if I don't have enough money or appetite ;-)
Anyway in this dialogue the guy is a mooch!!! :-D
anna8 says
October 24, 2008
"Hai un po' le braccia corte!" Secondo me questa è un' espressione molto eloquente, ma mi potresti dire -- C'è del linguaggio del corpo che devo usare quando lo dico? "Your arms are a little short!" In my opinion this is a very eloquent expression but could you tell me -- is there some body language that I have to use when I say it? :-)
A proposito, sono di accordo con voi, Irene e Salsagrrl. It can be a real problem dining alla romana when your friends have bigger appetites and bigger budgets than you do.
In English, alla romana is going Dutch or Dutch treat. I wonder what the Dutch say?
frank1960 says
October 24, 2008
We do not really have an expression like 'fare alla romana' or 'going Dutch'. As the romans we would say: "splitting the bill". Obviously we would say that in Dutch, which would be: "ieder betaalt zijn deel".
The derogatory way of using 'Dutch' in English stems from the time the Dutch and the English fought various (sea) wars.
anna8 says
October 25, 2008
Frank1960, of course you're right -- that and many similar expressions are derogatory; I apologize if I have offended you -- it was certainly not my intention. You may want to know, though, that I asked a few of my favorite twenty-somethings if they knew what Dutch Treat meant, and they did not. Perhaps this expression is on the way out (deservedly) and now only exists in the brains of a few dinosaurs like me.
456123 says
October 25, 2008
rrrg