# Bless



## fran06

I would like to discuss this very interesting English word.
As some of you already know I live between Italy and England and there, my lovely English people always say "ohhhhhhhh bless"
I'll give few examples:

Look at that beautiful baby!
Ohhhhh bless/ bless him/her!

or

S/he thinks s/he is the most good looking girl/boy on earth!
Ohhhhhhh bless her/him!

I love how they use it, expecially when it means "poor girl/boy, he is such an idiot!"

Is it used also in AE and AusE?
How would you translate it into Italian?


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## You little ripper!

fran06 said:
			
		

> I would like to discuss this very interesting English word.
> As some of you already know I live between Italy and England and there, my lovely English people always say "ohhhhhhhh bless"
> I'll give few examples:
> 
> Look at that beautiful baby!
> Ohhhhh bless/ bless him/her! May God bless him!
> 
> or
> 
> S/he thinks s/he is the most good looking girl/boy on earth!
> Ohhhhhhh bless her/him! May God bless you for saying such a nice thing!
> 
> I love how they use it, expecially when it means "poor girl/boy, he is such an idiot!"
> 
> Is it used also in AE and AusE?
> How would you translate it into Italian?


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## fran06

May God bless this poor, unfortunate creature!

Australians are definitelly less cynical than English are!!
Thanks Charles (also for your 5 words)


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## TimLA

fran06 said:
			
		

> I would like to discuss this very interesting English word.
> As some of you already know I live between Italy and England and there, my lovely English people always say "ohhhhhhhh bless"
> I'll give few examples:
> 
> Look at that beautiful baby!
> Ohhhhh bless/ bless him/her!
> 
> or
> 
> S/he thinks s/he is the most good looking girl/boy on earth!
> Ohhhhhhh bless her/him!
> 
> I love how they use it, expecially when it means "poor girl/boy, he is such an idiot!"
> 
> Is it used also in AE and AusE?
> How would you translate it into Italian?


 
"Bless" is used in AE, in similar forms.

"Bless you" is used after a sneeze and is short for "God bless you"
"Bless her/his heart" - very southern AE, often after something bad has happened to a person. But also to describe someone as "cute".
"Ohhhh bless her/him" - often used ironically as you mentioned
"That blessed thing" - like "damned" - the "ed" is formally pronounced here.

The comments above have little or no religious connotation. The one's below are often used by very religious people in normal conversation.

"I am blessed" - after someone asks "How ya doin'?"
"Have a blessed day" - Buona giornata!
"We have been blessed...."
"God bless you" - nothing to do with sneezing

Tim


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## You little ripper!

_Bless you._..... can also mean _Thank you.._......

_Bless you for responding so quickly to my email!
Bless you for putting out the garbage!_


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## fran06

I had no idea it could be used in so many different ways!!! Very interesting!!
I wonder how it could be translated in Italian but I leave that to our Italian friends
Thank you both!


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## You little ripper!

> Originally Posted by *fran06*
> _I would like to discuss this very interesting English word.
> As some of you already know I live between Italy and England and there, my lovely English people always say "ohhhhhhhh bless"
> I'll give few examples:
> 
> Look at that beautiful baby!
> Ohhhhh bless/ bless him/her! May God bless him! Dio lo benedica
> 
> or
> 
> S/he thinks s/he is the most good looking girl/boy on earth!
> Ohhhhhhh bless her/him! May God bless you for saying such a nice thing! Dio ti benedica per......
> 
> I love how they use it, expecially when it means "poor girl/boy, he is such an idiot!"
> 
> Is it used also in AE and AusE?
> How would you translate it into Italian?_



 From Oxford Paravia:_

Bless you_ after sneezing = salute

Bless you for = grazie per.......

Bless me! - Dio mio!

To be blessed with = avere il dono di

To bless oneself = farsi il segno della croce


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## fran06

Thanks Charles,
what about the cynical "Oohhhhhh bless him/her"?


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## You little ripper!

fran06 said:
			
		

> Thanks Charles,
> what about the cynical "Oohhhhhh bless him/her"?


Can you give an example?


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## primo_cerchio

In pratica il BE è come il venexian. Benedeto!


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## fran06

I have just noticed that you misunderstood my second example in my 1st post....sorry my fault!
I'll try again:

A: She doesn't even know how to write in proper English and she wants to be a journalist!
B: Bless her (meanning, how stupid, naive she is, in BE they also refer to this kind of girls as "blond" no offence to anyone )

Is it a tiny bit better now?


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## You little ripper!

fran06 said:
			
		

> I have just noticed that you misunderstood my second example in my 1st post....sorry my fault!
> I'll try again:
> 
> A: She doesn't even know how to write in proper English and she wants to be a journalist!
> B: Bless her (meanning, how stupid, naive she is, in BE they also refer to this kind of girls as "blond" no offence to anyone )
> 
> Is it a tiny bit better now?


_Povera scema!_ maybe?


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## die

In dialetto veneto come dice primo cerchio, si dice "benedeto da dio" o "benedeto" per dire, "oh, povero!"


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## uinni

primo_cerchio said:
			
		

> In pratica il BE è come il venexian. Benedeto!


O il friulano "benedet!"="bello/buono/bravo lui/tu!"

Uinni


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## fran06

Deduco quindi che non esista un equivalente italiano di tale espressione che permetta di essere cinici ma allo stesso tempo non esplicitamente offensivi come in inglese?!


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## TimLA

Forse "Beato te" - in forma ironica?


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## uinni

fran06 said:
			
		

> Deduco quindi che non esista un equivalente italiano di tale espressione che permetta di essere cinici ma allo stesso tempo non esplicitamente offensivi come in inglese?!


Mah. Seppure non penso che sia molto usato, un dialogo di questo genere non mi sembrerebbe tanto incomprensibile:

A - Sai? Ho deciso di sposarmi!
B - (who is against marriage) Ah; benedetto! (Sarà la tua rovina!)

Uinni


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## fran06

Quindi diciamo che ci sono modi di tradurlo regionali ma non peninsulari?
Chi sa a Napoli o Roma come si direbbe?!


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## lsp

fran06 said:
			
		

> A: She doesn't even know how to write in proper English and she wants to be a journalist!
> B: Bless her (meanning, how stupid, naive she is, ...


I don't think that people commonly use it this particular way in AE.


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## Fedora

lsp said:
			
		

> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *fran06*
> _A: She doesn't even know how to write in proper English and she wants to be a journalist!
> B: Bless her (meanning, how stupid, naive she is, ...
> 
> _
> I don't think that people commonly use it this particular way in AE.


Hi, in the South (at least where I am in TX) people use it in this way. But you wouldn't just say "Bless him/her". Instead what I hear most of the time is "Bless his/her heart" . 

Another way "Bless his/her heart" is used is to say "Poor him/her" :

A: Did you hear that Mary fell down the stairs and broke both of her legs?" 
B: Awww..Bless her heart!


Edit: Sorry. I hadn't noticed that TimLA had already discussed this before posting. My bad.


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## lsp

Fedora said:
			
		

> Hi, in the South (at least where I am in TX) people use it in this way. But you wouldn't just say "Bless him/her". Instead what I hear most of the time is "Bless his/her heart" . QUOTE]
> I guess that's what I meant. I saw Tim added the southern take on bless his/her heart, but you don't hear "Bless _her_," as it was used in fran's example.


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## Fedora

lsp said:
			
		

> I guess that's what I meant. I saw Tim added the southern take on bless his/her heart, but you don't hear "Bless _her_," as it was used in fran's example.


True! I hadn't even seen Tim's before posting


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## Hillbilly

In Southern American English "bless his heart" is often used to make a statement sound less harsh when discussing some bad quality of a person.

"Bless her heart, Mildred doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut."

It is a way of acknowledging that we still like this person even though we are making a criticism of her behavior.


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## fran06

Fedora said:
			
		

> Another way "Bless his/her heart" is used is to say "*Poor him/her*" :


 
Bingo, I have been thinking about it all day yesterday and here she comes with the solution!!! 

In Italian we would say *poverino/a*

Context *A* goes to the beach every day, *B* works everyday.

*A:* A furia di andare a mare tutti i giorni ho preso troppo sole e mi sono scottata/o!

*B*: Oh poverina/o! (*B* is being obviously cynical since s/he is working everyday and would love to get burn because the sun rather than going to work and saying poverina/o makes the other person think that s/he is truly sorry for her/him )

What do you think?


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## Fedora

fran06 said:
			
		

> Bingo, I have been thinking about it all day yesterday and here she comes with the solution!!!
> 
> In Italian we would say *poverino/a*
> 
> Context *A* goes to the beach every day, *B* works everyday.
> 
> *A:* A furia di andare a mare tutti i giorni ho preso troppo sole e mi sono scottata/o!
> 
> *B*: Oh poverina/o! (*B* is being obviously cynical since s/he is working everyday and would love to get *a sunburn* rather than going to work and saying poverina/o makes the other person think that s/he is truly sorry for her/him )
> 
> What do you think?



I think that that sounds just about right. 

Question: In this case would person B have a sarcastic tone?


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## fran06

Fedora said:
			
		

> I think that that sounds just about right.
> 
> Question: In this case would person B have a sarcastic tone?


 
Yes but not too much, s/he would probably roll her/his eyes without being caught by A 

PS thanks for the correction


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## this_is_me

scusate? c'è qualcuno che saprebbe aiutarmi? ho scritto ad un amico:
talk to you tomorrow.. night!!
e lui mi ha risposto: aw bless!! 
potreste dirmi il senso di questo bless?
grazie


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## Siberia

Bless vuol dire "God Bless" - che Dio ti benedica - a volte si dice invece di buona notte.


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## Salegrosso

E quell'_aw_?


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## **ellie**

Aw (awww) sta per OHHHH..non vuol dire niente di che  !


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## this_is_me

ma siete velocissimi!! grazie mille.. comincerò ad usare questo forum più spesso!


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## eleimar

In italian I would say "poverino/poverina" or "beata lei/beato lui".
ciao a tutti


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