Va Fa Napoli
In Italy they say, “Va fa Napoli”. In fact, Italians everywhere can be found to say this phrase. You don’t have to speak Italian, or ever have been to Italy to be familiar with the phrase. Its literal meaning is, ‘go to Naples.’ That’s not really what it means though.
We had a conversation about coded language here this past week. Some coded language is difficult to parse, while others are known by virtually everyone, and function as euphemisms. ‘Va fa Napoli’ is one of those fun euphemisms, only made beautiful by the Italian esthetic. ‘Va fa Napoli’ slides off the tongue like a sweet/tart sip of limoncello. It must be something very nice, right?
About a week before our conversation here on BindleSnitch about language, a Russian warship approached Snake Island, which was a military installation held by Ukrainian soldiers.
The neat thing about the Russian warship approaching and communicating with the Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island was that the Ukrainian’s response was essentially va fa Napoli. The Ukrainians did not want the Russian warship there. Telling them to go to Naples seems like a reasonable thing to say in that circumstance. Go away! Go to Naples…for all we care. The Ukrainian soldiers did not seek a stylish dismissal that day. Italian wouldn’t do. They said what ‘Va fa Napoli’ actually means. The Ukrainian soldiers said, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!”
You are all news watchers, so you are probably well aware of that fact. What you may not know is, Ukraine has now commemorated the event with a stamp. The featured image is the Ukrainian stamp made to commemorate this event. The Ukrainian soldiers survived the assault, and were taken prisoner by Russian sailors. Ukraine has awarded them citations for their heroism. As for me, I plan to get myself some of those stamps.
Alan Milner
03/15/2022 @ 9:14 am
It has been nice to see you posting again. I don’t have much to say about this subject…or just about anything else anymore. Everyone has already said everything I might have wanted to say.
Ron Powell
03/15/2022 @ 4:51 pm
“They said what ‘Va fa Napoli’ actually means. The Ukrainian soldiers said, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” ”
The ‘heroic’ response may have been the ultimate pejorative during a pre-invasion confrontation.
However, since Putin’s unprovoked attack and indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets which has resulted in Putin thumbing his nose at the world declaring him to be a pariah, I would refrain from inviting Putin to do something that he clearly seems to enjoy…
The problem is that Putin hasn’t just fucked himself. He has fucked the Russian people while he continues to fuck over the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine…
Bitey
03/15/2022 @ 4:58 pm
And, he’s something of a recidivist.
Ron Powell
03/15/2022 @ 6:34 pm
Bitey,
Is he a recidivist the pleasure he derives from fucking himself?
Or, is he a sociopathic serial mass murderer who ‘gets off’ on wrongfully exercising the power to cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people?
Ron Powell
03/15/2022 @ 6:38 pm
Correction:
Is he a recidivist re the pleasure he derives from fucking himself?
Bitey
03/15/2022 @ 7:45 pm
I was thinking in terms of invasions and sadistic war crimes.
Ron Powell
03/15/2022 @ 8:34 pm
In other words , you believe, as I do, that he Putin is “a sociopathic serial mass murderer who ‘gets off’ on wrongfully exercising the power to cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people.”
Bitey
03/15/2022 @ 10:28 pm
I think that is a fair assessment.
He was a poor kid from Leningrad, who grew up to be a middle manager in the KGB. He worked in East Germany in the thug-ocracy of the Soviet Union.
Did you know that the Russian military has taken mobile crematoria with them to Ukraine so that they can dispose of the bodies of dead Russian soldiers, rather than informing their families? Not only is he not leading the Russian people, nor does he have their interests in them, but he is also a parasite on the Russian people.
Ron Powell
03/16/2022 @ 2:31 am
“…he is also a parasite on the Russian people.”
We will begin to see reports on the fact that the thievery of Putin and his oligarchy is partly to blame for the poor field and battle performance of the Russian military….
jpHart
03/17/2022 @ 5:19 pm
{…} down the lane I look {…}
Bitey
04/14/2022 @ 5:19 pm
The ship depicted on this stamp has gone beneath the waves. It looks like it wont make it to Naples after all. Its next stop is Davy Jones Locker.
jpHart
04/16/2022 @ 5:07 am
Streets are not dissimilar…. Earlier I had typed through a reference for Editor ‘n Chief Milner (7 seas ago) … wherein I needed to thumb print: WIRED [FEB 2022+COOL IT] ‘The Big Inhale’ as it addresses the paradox he proffers in Bindle Snitch Dot Com’s: ‘Sailing Wind Power with Misleading News Leads’ [07 APR] LO;} $ Behold. However Dalton Trumbo I’m not. So I diverted hatefully … (I am kidding I am KIDDING0 and would be as happy playing B.I.N.G.O) so I toasted (four(4) slot …). Hence, [now if I had a V Pence haircut] blueberry waffles; curious as mellow-yellow …. how many black olives one ought consume for daily iron. Of course missing more than several of the other resident geniuses at this fork on the rail. O the way out hereupon might be a /horizon horizon cloud hologram\ of ‘our’ LION and LAMB, say, over the North Pole which indeed might thrill-chill the retinas of the Russian egress-holes ENUFF to try and find their way home. Bitey-Becket-Bliss! Or is it too late: that ROAR and BLEEP as I lay me down to SLEEP?
Koshersalaami
04/24/2022 @ 2:46 am
Naples is not known as the best of neighborhoods, hence I guess the expression
Bitey
04/24/2022 @ 9:09 am
Yes. It is a bit of a pit. So, as a bit of a compound euphemism, it is used to replace a very vulgar dismissal, which closely resembles the dismissal that the Ukrainian soldiers gave to the Russian ship. To visit Naples is to receive a rather large appendage into a rather small orifice…yourself.