MILAN – If 2007 could be summed up in a single word, that word would be “casta” (caste), or rather “La casta” (The Caste), with a definite article as in the title of a book. For La casta is the title of the book by Corriere della Sera journalists Gian Antonio Stella and Sergio Rizzo that introduced the word into the vocabulary of Italian politics and daily life. Or to be more precise, to non-political everyday life in particular.
THE POLL – Today, the word “caste” immediately suggests the many halls of power up and down Italy, from the Chamber of Deputies at Palazzo Montecitorio and the Senate’s Palazzo Madama to the boardrooms of council enterprises and the parliaments of the regions, provinces and municipalities. These are the strongholds of political privilege where parliamentarians and councillors at all levels continue to enjoy their perks without the slightest intention of giving any of them up while the rest of the country gets by as best it can. The book has been a huge success, selling more than a million copies, so it is no surprise that “caste” was chosen by our readers as their word of the year. Almost 40% of the more than 35,000 people who voted in the Corriere.it e-poll nominated “casta” from a short list of ten terms. But then last July, when the two authors took part in a live videochat, readers sent in more than 2,000 questions and messages of encouragement.
STAY-AT-HOMES TAKE SILVER – In second place, albeit with fewer than half as many votes at 15.5%, were economy minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa’s celebrated “bamboccioni”, or “stay-at-homes”, the term he used for thirty-somethings who refuse to leave the parental nest. Our bronze medal went to “clima” (climate), with just over 12%, an ever-topical term that received an end-of-year boost from the international summit at Bali.
OTHER BUZZ WORDS – A score of more than ten per cent also went to “mutui” (mortgages), one of the hot economic topics of 2007 for the increases in rates over the past twelve months and for the international repercussions of the subprime crisis. Other terms voted by readers were “family day” (6.3%), the pro-family demonstration on 12 May that drew a million people to Piazza San Giovanni in Roma; “rom” (Roma gypsy: 6,2%), “ultrà” (organised football fan: 3%); “Myspace” (2.5%); and “Spy Story” (2.2%), a phrase that enjoyed much popularity in early 2007 in the wake of the Litvinenko case, in which a former KGB agent was poisoned with polonium 210.
SILVIO’S RUNNING BOARD – In last place was perhaps the most recent of all the terms on our list: “predellino” (running board). The word refers to Silvio Berlusconi’s latest political initiative when he announced the birth of the People of Freedom’s Party on 18 November from the running board of a car in a crowded Piazza San Babila.
Alessandro Sala
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
