A Tondino Is An
Abbreviation Of Rotondino, A "Little Round Thing." A Plate Is A
Tondo, A Small Plate A Tondino.
The delicacy of expression which
their diminutives and intensitives give is untranslateable.
One
day I was asking after a waiter whom I had known in previous years,
but who was ill. I said I hoped he was not badly off. "Oh dear,
no," was the answer; "he has a discreta posizionina" - "a snug
little sum put by." "Is the road to such and such a place
difficult?" I once inquired. "Un tantino," was the answer. "Ever
such a very little," I suppose, is as near as we can get to this.
At one inn I asked whether I could have my linen back from the wash
by a certain time, and was told it was impossibilissimo. I have an
Italian friend long resident in England who often introduces
English words when talking with me in Italian. Thus I have heard
him say that such and such a thing is tanto cheapissimo. As for
their gestures, they are inimitable. To say nothing of the pretty
little way in which they say "no," by moving the forefinger
backwards and forwards once or twice, they have a hundred movements
to save themselves the trouble of speaking, which say what they
have to say better than any words can do. It is delightful to see
an Italian move his hand in such way as to show you that you have
got to go round a corner.
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