# Fare la vita del beato porco



## moonghi

hi I was wondering how I can translate "fare la vita del beato porco" or "sentirsi un beato porco" in English.
This refers to a person who leads an idle life 
Thanks!


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## Paulfromitaly

Giusto per essere un poco più chiari (che non guasta mai..)



> *far la vita del beato porco
> *
> • Avere un'esistenza comoda e garantita, come quella del maiale che vive senza problemi nell'abbondanza, ben nutrito, libero di fare quello che vuole senza bisogno di lavorare. Usato in senso spregiativo.


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## rrose17

I would have said "living a dog's life" but then I saw that this often (usually?) has a negative connotation. To me I've only heard it to mean living a life with no worries or responsibilities. There's a full discussion on it here.


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## alicip

Sarebbe l'equivalente di: (s)gavazzare, godersi la vita, passarsela bene, stare in pappardelle, far vita allegra, darsi buon tempo, fare la vita di Michelaccio?
Direi:
to make merry
to live merrily
to enjoy oneself 
to have a good time
to live it up
to loaf about/around
to live the life of Riley
to live like a prince/king



rrose17 said:


> I would have said "living a dog's life" but then I saw that this often (usually?) has a negative connotation. To me I've only heard it to mean living a life with no worries or responsibilities. There's a full discussion on it here.


Hi Ron. 
To me "*to lead/live a dog's life*" means only:

*To have an unhappy or miserable existence.*

Example: I’ve been working so hard. I’m tired of *living a dog’s life*.


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## rrose17

alicip said:


> to live the life of Riley


I was thinking of this one, too. It might be a bit dated.
@alclip if you read the post that I sent the link to, you'll see there are many like me who only know the expression in the positive.


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## moonghi

Thank you all but all the expressions you're giving me are not even close to be funny and figurative as much as the italian one is. I know it's not your fault but a matter of language and culture


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## TimLA

There are many ways to approach this is AE - Here are some thoughts:

easy street - often refers to money
life of ease
gentleman farmer
the good life
lap of luxury - ofen refers to money
like a king
hog heaven - speaking of maiale 
like a prized stallion



moonghi said:


> Thank you all but all the expressions you're giving me are not even close to be funny and figurative as much as the italian one is. I know it's not your fault but a matter of language and culture



I think everyone is doing their best to help.
Sometimes it's difficult, if not impossible, to translate idioms and metaphors.
In terms of your translation - In the mouth of the wolf!


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## moonghi

TimLA said:


> I think everyone is doing their best to help.
> Sometimes it's difficult, if not impossible, to translate idioms and metaphors.
> In terms of your translation - In the mouth of the wolf!



Ahah thank you! Of course I appreciate everyone's help!


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## alicip

rrose17 said:


> I was thinking of this one, too. It might be a bit dated.
> @alclip if you read the post that I sent the link to, you'll see there are many like me who only know the expression in the positive.


Yeah, I saw that link but I only know it with its negative meaning. No dictionary seems to confirm that "to live a dog's life" has a positive meaning:
a dog's life
It's a dog's life 
lead/live a dog's life
it’s a dog’s life
a dog's life
a dog's life

"Far la vita del beato porco" is not used in everyday speech. As far as I am concerned, it is dated too. See this *link*.


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## MR1492

TimLA said:


> hog heaven - speaking of maiale



And there is the related "living high off the hog" which also includes the reference to maiale!

Phil


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## TimLA

MR1492 said:


> And there is the related "living high off the hog" which also includes the reference to maiale!
> 
> Phil



NICE!!!


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## theartichoke

There's also _To be in clover, _which gets across the idea of money, comfort, and not needing to work. It's possibly also pig-related, given that the farmer I buy pork from tells me his pigs love nothing better than a field of clover.

It's funny that there doesn't seem to be any truly pejorative equivalent of "la vita del beato porco" in English. You have to wonder what that says about us....


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## johngiovanni

theartichoke said:


> There's also _To be in clover, _which gets across the idea of money, comfort, and not needing to work. It's possibly also pig-related, given that the farmer I buy pork from tells me his pigs love nothing better than a field of clover.
> 
> It's funny that there doesn't seem to be any truly pejorative equivalent of "la vita del beato porco" in English. You have to wonder what that says about us....


There is a thread in the English Only forum - "happy as a pig in clover": http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/happy-as-a-pig-in-clover.1955109/
A "positive" saying relating to dogs is "as fit as a butcher's dog", but that seem to be limited to physical fitness, being well nourished.
There is also "happy as a pig in  shit / muck" (which is probably not fair on pigs).
However, none of these expressions has the pejorative sense of the Italian.


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## london calling

_As happy as a pig in clover/shit/muck_ are exactly what came to me too (eventually!). However, I agree that they don't render the original Italian at all, not being pejorative.

Fellow Brits, were you ever called _Lord/Lady Muck_ by your mums when you were kids when you just loafed around the house and didn't give a hand cooking or cleaning (or whatever)?


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## johngiovanni

I can remember _Lord/Lady Muck _being used, but always with reference to someone who was thought to be acting in a haughty manner or in a socially pretentious way.


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## Tellure

london calling said:


> Fellow Brits, were you ever called _Lord/Lady Muck_ by your mums when you were kids when you just loafed around the house and didn't give a hand cooking or cleaning (or whatever)?



Le mie "simpatiche" e vecchie cognate quando eravamo piccole ci chiamavano "Milady".


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## sorry66

There is also 'to live off the fat of the land'
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/live+off+the+fat+of+the+land
but it's not pejorative.

There are  'slackers' or 'drifters', which are questionably pejorative terms  for people who get by somehow, but their wealth is uncertain.
Also closer to the good life - somebody just 'gliding through life' or always having 'had it handed to him/her on a plate'.
Similarly, someone 'born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth' but that means they've always had it good.

To artichoke - yeah, maybe anglophones think an easy life is not to be sneered at. 'A man/woman of independent means' is slyly approved.

I've never heard of living in 'hog heaven' or 'high off the hog' but that should be 'funny and figurative' enough for you, moonghi.

( I've always thought of Lady Muck as johngiovanni does - someone who is too stuck-up to do what ordinary mortals do/ who thinks of herself as a cut above when she's just the same as them )


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## theartichoke

The trouble with "living high off the hog" as a translation for "fare la vita del beato porco," though, is that (referring back to the definition of the latter in #2) living high off the hog is indeed _comodo_, but it's not necessarily _garantito_. Someone who gets a sudden windfall may well "live high off the hog" until his money runs out: as a matter of fact, I would be most likely to use the expression to talk about someone who really _shouldn't _be spending as much money as he/she does. "They've been living high off the hog for years, and now they're horribly in debt." It's a great expression--I love its origins in who eats the chops vs. who eats the trotters--but it lacks the "trust-fund brat" aspect that seems to belong to the "beato porco."


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## sorry66

To alicip 
(s)gavazzare? I found sguazzare in wordreference. http://www.wordreference.com/iten/sguazzare
 Is this the same thing?


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## alicip

To sorry:
No, it's not the same thing. 
Da Devoto-Oli:
*sgavazzare *<sga-vaz-zà-re> v.intr. (aus. avere), lett. ~ Lo stesso che gavazzare. [Der. di gavazzare, con s- intensivo].
*gavazzare *<ga-vaz-zà-re> v.intr. (aus. avere), lett. ~ Abbandonarsi con vistosa e rumorosa esuberanza ai divertimenti e ai piaceri; anche rifl. intr.: Voluttà con Bellezza si gavazza (Poliziano). [Dal tema mediterraneo *gaba gozzo1, nel senso di ingrossare il gozzo dal ridere].
Da Hazon Garzanti: 
*sgavazzare  *v. intr. (fam.) (far baldoria) to make* merry; to enjoy oneself, to have a good time.
*gavazzare *v. intr. (letter.) to revel; to carouse, to make* merry.

Da Devoto-Oli :
*sguazzare *(sguaz-zà-re> v.intr. (aus. avere) 
Agitarsi nell'acqua sollevando spruzzi, di solito per divertimento (i ragazzi sguazzavano felici nel fiume), o, riferito ad animali, perché lacqua è il loro ambiente naturale o preferito (le anatre sguazzano nel lago); iperb., per indicare un'insolita o eccezionale abbondanza d'acqua: per la pioggia nella strada sguazzavamo sino alle caviglie n Di liquidi agitati in recipienti non pieni: il latte sguazza nel bidone. 
 fig. Trovarsi a proprio agio in un certo ordine di cose, quasi fosse il proprio ambiente naturale: s. negli scandali; s. nel fango, nell'immoralità più oscena n Disporre di larghissimi mezzi: s. nell'oro n S. nelle scarpe, in un vestito, starci largo. 
 arc. Spassarsela allegramente. [Der. di guazzo, con s- durativo].
Da Hazon Garzanti: 
*sguazzare *v. intr.
 to wallow (anche fig.): sguazzare nel fango, to wallow in the mud; sguazzare nell'oro, nel benessere, (fig.) to be rolling in money, to be wallowing in riches
 (in indumenti) to be lost: sguazzare nel vestito, to be lost in one's suit
 (trovarsi a proprio agio) to be in one's element: in certe situazioni ci sguazza, he's in his element in certain situations.


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## sorry66

Thank you! Interesting words!


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## alicip

sorry66 said:


> Thank you! Interesting words!


You're welcome! 
Speaking of our "fare la vita del beato porco" do you think we could say "live as happy as a pig in mud"?


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## MR1492

theartichoke said:


> The trouble with "living high off the hog" as a translation for "fare la vita del beato porco," <snipped text> it lacks the "trust-fund brat" aspect that seems to belong to the "beato porco."



So much of this is subjective but I just don't get the disconnect you see here, theartichoke.  I'm not saying you are wrong since it is a matter of perception but a "trust fund brat" can live "high off the hog." I don't see where someone living "high off the hog" is necessarily about someone with a windfall of money.  It could be so but it isn't necessarily so.



alicip said:


> You're welcome!
> Speaking of our "fare la vita del beato porco" do you think we could say "live as happy as a pig in mud"?



The more I think about this one, these two might be the two most similar in what they are trying to say.  

Phil


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## sorry66

But be like 'pigs in clover' isn't intended to be pejorative. I'm assuming 'happy as a pig in mud' is just a variant.
'Living high off the hog' is not a British expression and I'm unfamiliar with it but it doesn't sound like a criticism either.
Maybe my suggestions are wide off the mark but I thought we were aiming for pejorative /critical- that's what the first two posts suggest but then again I wasn't sure about the literal translation of "fare la vita del beato porco" I think I, initially, got the wrong end of the stick.
Is it just to 'have the life of a happy pig'?


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## alicip

To *sorry*:
The saying "*living off the fat of the land*" means to live well by taking advantage of the world's abundance and whatever the world has to offer. The expression implies living comfortably without too much hardship. Taking advantage of what the world has to offer can be understood in relation to any set of circumstances, ranging from an agrarian existence to the highest degree of modern affluence. *Sometimes the idiom also implies opulence, excess or laziness, but these are secondary connotations*.
Then we have:
*to live like fighting cocks = vivere da pascià, avere ogni ben di Dio
*


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## theartichoke

MR1492 said:


> So much of this is subjective but I just don't get the disconnect you see here, theartichoke.  I'm not saying you are wrong since it is a matter of perception but a "trust fund brat" can live "high off the hog." I don't see where someone living "high off the hog" is necessarily about someone with a windfall of money.  It could be so but it isn't necessarily so.



Sorry, let me clarify. The guy blowing through his windfall was just an example. Anyone, from a trust-fund brat to a self-made millionaire to a regular Joe who's maxing out his credit cards, can "live high off the hog," which simply means "to live luxuriously and expensively." However, the difference I see between it and the Italian "beato porco" is that the life of the "beato porco" is _garantita_: the money, comfort, and luxury are secure and durable, and also come effortlessly, without being worked for. These are the connotations lacking from "living high off the hog."

"Living off the fat of the land," while it's not an expression I use, does sound at least slightly pejorative to me. 

But I have a question about that "beato porco." Given that everybody knows what happens to the _porco _after he lives his blessed, carefree, well-fed existence (i.e., he winds up as prosciutto), does the Italian expression not carry inevitable undercurrents of a nasty end awaiting the individual it describes?


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## chipulukusu

theartichoke said:


> does the Italian expression not carry inevitable undercurrents of a nasty end awaiting the individual it describes?



No, I don't think so  What prevails in my opinion is the reprimendal aspect, mixed with envy and suffocated admiration...


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## sorry66

Ok, well what's wrong with with 'gliding through life' and 'having it always handed to you on a plate/silver platter' which I've mentioned in a previous post. There is envy here.

I don't know 'to live like fighting cocks'.

'Living off the fat of the land' is something that you might even say about yourself - with a hint of irony and smugness combined - that's how I've heard it used - so not that pejorative. 
Would anyone call themselves a 'beato porco'? Doesn't sound like they would.


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## italtrav

Ciao a tutti

I think the expression, "to live like a pig in clover" has possibly been taken off the table too quickly. 
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/like+pigs+in+clover
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_clover#English

Such a pig is presumably in hog heaven: http://blogs.voanews.com/student-un...ds-in-hog-heaven-and-more-ways-to-be-excited/


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## alicip

italtrav said:


> Ciao a tutti
> 
> I think the expression, "to live like a pig in clover" has possibly been taken off the table too quickly.
> http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/like+pigs+in+clover
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_clover#English
> 
> Such a pig is presumably in hog heaven: http://blogs.voanews.com/student-un...ds-in-hog-heaven-and-more-ways-to-be-excited/


I totally agree that there are many ways to translate the saying "fare la vita del beato porco" and these two ("to live like a pig in clover" and "to be in hog heaven") are among the best translations around here.


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## london calling

sorry66 said:


> ( I've always thought of Lady Muck as johngiovanni does - someone who is too stuck-up to do what ordinary mortals do/ who thinks of herself as a cut above when she's just the same as them )


I agree with both of you. But the consequence of that is that your mum calls you Lord/Lady Muck because you presumably think you should not have to do anything around the house, given that you're obviously a cut above the rest of the family.


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