# Can I nick a cigarette?



## nowall

Can I nick a cigarette?

I'd like to know how you'll translate 'nick' - I'd say:
Posso 'rubarti'/'prendere' una sigaretta?


In BE, I also heard 'can I nick a fag'? 
I know it's a very unformal expression, mostly used by teenager.
How much vulgar/unformal is it? Also, does it make sense in AE?


----------



## ElaineG

nowall said:
			
		

> Can I nick a cigarette?
> 
> I'd like to know how you'll translate 'nick' - I'd say:
> Posso 'rubarti'/'prendere' una sigaretta?
> 
> 
> In BE, I also heard 'can I nick a fag'?
> I know it's a very informal expression, mostly used by teenager.
> How vulgar/informal is it? Also, does it make sense in AE?


 
In AE, non usiamo la parola "fag" per una sigaretta. "Fag" (in AE) è un termine (offensivo) per un omosessuale. Diciamo "can I bum a cigarette?" (invece di "nick"), ma dovrei dire, "dicevamo". Ormai poche persone fumano, e quelle che lo fanno non regalano le sigarette facilmente -- possono costare più di $7.00 il pacchetto.


----------



## Raphillon

"Hai una sigaretta?"

Or 

"Avresti una sigaretta?"

The vulgar one mostly depends on the region where the asker comes from...


----------



## You little ripper!

nowall said:
			
		

> Can I nick a cigarette?
> 
> I'd like to know how you'll translate 'nick' - I'd say:
> Posso 'rubarti'/'prendere' una sigaretta?
> 
> 
> In BE, I also heard 'can I nick a fag'?
> I know it's a very unformal expression, mostly used by teenager.
> How much vulgar/unformal is it? Also, does it make sense in AE?


"Fag" is a slang word meaning a _cigarette_ in the U.K. and Australia. It also means (amongst other things) a_ homosexual male_ in the U.K., Australia and The United States as Lady E mentioned in post 2. (By the way Elaine, did you get that title when you lived in England?)


----------



## Alxmrphi

Cigarette = Ciggie (if you call it this, you will fit right in, only posh people + non-smokers call them "cigarettes" here.

"nick a ciggie" is not used that much by young people in BE, its more middle-aged smokers.

another (comical) useage here is "to bum" as in "to take", and for a while people actually said "can i bum a fag" until someone realised what it means (have sex with a homosexual male). So now if you use "bum" which really only applies to cigarettes here, i dont know why, its "can i bum a ciggie", or "can i nick a fag", but never "can i bum a fag", hehehe.


----------



## You little ripper!

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> another (comical) useage here is "to bum" as in "to take", and for a while people actually said "can i bum a fag" until someone realised what it means (have sex with a homosexual male). So now if you use "bum" which really only applies to cigarettes here, i dont know why, its "can i bum a ciggie", or "can i nick a fag", but never "can i bum a fag", hehehe.


Alex, maybe it's because the more correct way of saying that is "_May_ I bum a fag?"  I still hear people say that in Australia. I don't think they've really thought about how that can be misinterpreted.


----------



## panjandrum

A small side-note.
To nick a cigarette, here, means to remove the burning tip with the thumb-nail so that the rest of the cigaratte may be kept for later - possibly tucked behind the smoker's ear.


----------



## Alxmrphi

Over here thats called "pegging a ciggie".


----------



## You little ripper!

panjandrum said:
			
		

> A small side-note.
> To nick a cigarette, here, means to remove the burning tip with the thumb-nail so that the rest of the cigaratte may be kept for later - possibly tucked behind the smoker's ear.


That could well be one of the meanings of that expression Panj, but I don't think that anyone who uses it nowadays would mean that. Most people who use it would mean that they want _to pinch_ or _steal a cigarette._


----------



## Juri

I cannot believe, one may make it in Australia. Perhaps in films?


----------



## Raphillon

That's very confusing.... I'm afraid I will not be capable of asking for a cigarette in any english speaking country.....

Well the lucky part is that I've never been a smoker!


----------



## You little ripper!

Juri said:
			
		

> I cannot believe, one may make it in Australia. Perhaps in films?


Sorry Juri, I didn't understand that. Did you mean that you can't believe that they use that expression and that it is possibly only used in films?


----------



## You little ripper!

Raphillon said:
			
		

> That's very confusing.... I'm afraid I will not be capable of asking for a cigarette in any english speaking country.....
> 
> Well the lucky part is that I've never been a smoker!


These expressions are slang Raphillon.  If you ever did become a smoker (hopefully that will never happen) and you wanted to ask someone for a cigarette, you could just say, _May/Can I have a cigarette?_


----------



## Alxmrphi

But baffled when someone asks you for one!


----------



## Juri

Excuse me Charles; my error. It was for panjandrum.


----------



## Howard Coberly

nowall said:
			
		

> Can I nick a cigarette?
> 
> I'd like to know how you'll translate 'nick' - I'd say:
> Posso 'rubarti'/'prendere' una sigaretta?
> 
> 
> In BE, I also heard 'can I nick a fag'?
> I know it's a very unformal expression, mostly used by teenager.
> How much vulgar/unformal is it? Also, does it make sense in AE?


 


Having grown up in the midwest, I heard the word "fag" used often to mean a cigarette.  Usually by farmers and country people.
You'll see it used  in books by people like Hemingway, Steinbeck and Faulkner.

A bit off the point but an English friend of mine told me that the term "fag" was also applied to understudents at Oxford and Cambridge in the 1800's by upper classmen.  The underlings were expected to carry the books of and run errands for the seniors.(????)

Solo un punto interessante
Ciao


----------



## moodywop

Howard Coberly said:
			
		

> A bit off the point but an English friend of mine told me that the term "fag" was also applied to understudents at Oxford and Cambridge in the 1800's by upper classmen. The underlings were expected to carry the books of and run errands for the seniors.(????)


 
_Fag _in this sense was used until quite recently. Alistair Cooke reports this conversation between an American and a British diplomat:

- Do you know Lord xxx by any chance?
- Yes, known him all my life. He was my fag at Eton
- Well! I'll say this for you British. You certainly are frank!


----------



## Howard Coberly

moodywop said:
			
		

> _Fag _in this sense was used until quite recently. Alistair Cooke reports this conversation between an American and a British diplomat:
> 
> - Do you know Lord xxx by any chance?
> - Yes, known him all my life. He was my fag at Eton
> - Well! I'll say this for you British. You certainly are frank!


 


Quello mi piace molto!!!!!
E buffissimo!!!


Se no ti dispiace che sto domando,  dove hai imparato inglese??  Indovino che tu vivessi negli Stati Uniti per un tempo.(no so come si dice "at some point") Vero?

Vivo qui tutta la mia vita e la tua inglese e migliore della mia!!!


----------



## Alxmrphi

Shouldnt it be*  sono vivuto qui tutta la mia vita *instead of *Vivo qui tutta la mia vita ???

*I have lived here all my life*
rather than*
I live here all my life

?


----------



## moodywop

Howard Coberly said:
			
		

> Quello mi piace molto!!!!!
> E buffissimo!!!


 
Here are two more quotes(from the BBC) that would make Americans smile:

_Former Labour leader xxxx was ordered to give up the fags by his wife Glenys _

_Former Tory Trade Secretary xxxx, whose habit undoubtedly affected his health, __would never be pictured near a fag. _





> Se no ti dispiace che sto domando_ non ti dà fastidio questa_ _domanda,_ dove hai imparato *l'*inglese?? Indovino_Immagino_ che tu vivessi  _abbia vissuto _negli Stati Uniti per un tempo _per un periodo di tempo_.(non so come si dice "at some point") Vero?
> 
> (Vivo qui tutta la mia vita) _Ho passato tutta la mia vita qui_ e la tua  _il tuo _inglese *è* migliore della mia _del mio_!!!


 
Ho lavorato a Londra per dieci anni ma ora sono tornato in Italia e insegno inglese in una scuola secondaria. Comunque, nonostante abbia trascorso tanti anni in Inghilterra, ti assicuro che non si finisce mai d'imparare 

Carlo


----------



## Howard Coberly

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> Shouldnt it be* sono vivuto qui tutta la mia vita *instead of *Vivo qui tutta la mia vita ???*
> 
> I have lived here all my life
> *rather than*
> I live here all my life
> 
> ?


 
It could be...This is one of the areas where I get confused.

ci puo aiutare qualcuno qui ???

Grazie !!!


----------



## Alxmrphi

ci puo aiutare qualcuno qui ???

what do you mean by that? (not the translation, the meaning).


----------



## ElaineG

Un articolo interessante su l'origine di "fag"  http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfaggot.html.


----------



## Howard Coberly

moodywop said:
			
		

> Here are two more quotes(from the BBC) that would make Americans smile:
> 
> _Former Labour leader xxxx was ordered to give up the fags by his wife Glenys _
> 
> _Former Tory Trade Secretary xxxx, whose habit undoubtedly affected his health, __would never be pictured near a fag. _
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ho lavorato a Londra per dieci anni ma ora sono tornato in Italia e insegno inglese in una scuola secondaria. Comunque, nonostante abbia trascorso tanti anni in Inghilterra, ti assicuro che non si finisce mai d'imparare
> 
> Carlo


 

Molto buffo!!  

Grazie per le correzione!!

Sono molto impressionato dal tuo Inglese.  E un grande consequimento!


Ciao


----------



## Howard Coberly

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> ci puo aiutare qualcuno qui ???
> 
> what do you mean by that? (not the translation, the meaning).


 


I'm hoping that it means " can someone help us here".  But considering that I speak Italian at this point just well enough to get my face slapped or to get myself beaten up, depending on to whom I'm speaking, I could have made a mistake. (D'OH!)


Ciao!


----------



## moodywop

Howard Coberly said:
			
		

> It could be...This is one of the areas where I get confused.
> 
> ci puo aiutare qualcuno qui ???
> 
> Grazie !!!


 
When you talk about how long you have been doing something or how long you've been ill etc we use the present tense in Italian.

_Vivo qui da dieci anni/dal 1996 = I've lived here for ten years/since 1996_

_Sto studiando da due ore/dalle 5 = I've been studying for 2 hours/since 5_

With _I've lived here all my life _I would opt for a non-literal translation:

_Ho passato/trascorso tutta la mia vita qui_

_Ho sempre abitato qui_

although you can say _ho vissuto qui tutta la vita._

Btw if you happen to hear _da una vita _it just means _for a long time/for ages:_

_Non la vedo da una vita_


----------



## Howard Coberly

moodywop said:
			
		

> When you talk about how long you have been doing something or how long you've been ill etc we use the present tense in Italian.
> 
> _Vivo qui da dieci anni/dal 1996 = I've lived here for ten years/since 1996_
> 
> _Sto studiando da due ore/dalle 5 = I've been studying for 2 hours/since 5_
> 
> With _I've lived here all my life _I would opt for a non-literal translation:
> 
> _Ho passato/trascorso tutta la mia vita qui_
> 
> _Ho sempre abitato qui_
> 
> although you can say _ho vissuto qui tutta la vita._
> 
> Btw if you happen to hear _da una vita _it just means _for a long time/for ages:_
> 
> _Non la vedo da una vita_


 



Grazie per l'informazione!!!


----------



## Juri

ALEX! _Sono vissuto qui tutta la vita._ or: _Vivo qui tutta la vita._
Make not difference, except in verbal tense.
If you write your story, you write better the first;the second is more colloquial  .


----------



## Alxmrphi

moodywop said:
			
		

> When you talk about how long you have been doing something or how long you've been ill etc we use the present tense in Italian.



So i am wrong...



			
				Juri said:
			
		

> Make not difference, except in verbal tense.
> If you write your story, you write better the first



But i am right.. ?

In English.. "I have lived here all my life"
..........and. "I have been living here all my life"

2 different tenses, exactly the same meaning, is this the same in Italian?
But the present tense is used more in everyday use? I think that is the general consensus here.


----------



## Howard Coberly

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> So i am wrong...
> 
> 
> 
> But i am right.. ?
> 
> In English.. "I have lived here all my life"
> ..........and. "I have been living here all my life"
> 
> 2 different tenses, exactly the same meaning, is this the same in Italian?
> But the present tense is used more in everyday use? I think that is the general consensus here.


 

Penso che abbiamo avuto tutti e due ragione in questo caso.


----------



## Alxmrphi

I suppose so but i like clarity!


----------



## Howard Coberly

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> I suppose so but i like clarity!


 


Si.  Anche io!!

Devo ammettere che non ero nemmeno completemente sicuro dalla regola in questo caso.
E solo perche sono abituato di sentirla cosi a casa.  Sono l'unico in la nostra casa che non parli Italiano.
Molte volte,  dimentico a domandare dalle regole.

( Spero che ho avuto ragione sopra)


Ciao


----------

