# bamboccione



## Victoria32

Ciao a tutti,

10 Forward again! In a posting about Dr Who, someone has used this word... it's not in the WRF dictionary, can someone help please?

Grazie in anticipo...

The context....
"credo abbia fatto il penultimo, adesso ci dev'essere un qualche bamboccione"....

Vicky


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## uinni

Bamboccione = (big) clumsy silly man

Uinni


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## Victoria32

uinni said:


> Bamboccione = (big) clumsy silly man
> 
> Uinni


Mille grazie, Uinni!


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## mateintwo

There were many discussions in the Italian media in recent days after a minister said the are too many “bamboccioni” in Italy and that they should make a serious effort to go away from their parents and take responsibility for their lives.

From what I understand the term means more or less spoiled adults (mostly males) that prefer to live with their parents even into their 30’s.

I can’t think of a good English term for this. Any suggestions?
Also can someone explain how this expression was born and what does the “occioni” part stand for?


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## Murphy

A possible English expression: "Mummy's boy".

I'll leave the origins of the word to the natives


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## moro_of_venice

mateintwo said:


> There were many discussions in the Italian media in recent days after a minister said the are too many “bamboccioni” in Italy and that they should make a serious effort to go away from their parents and take responsibility for their lives.
> 
> From what I understand the term means more or less spoiled adults (mostly males) that prefer to live with their parents even into their 30’s.
> 
> I can’t think of a good English term for this. Any suggestions?
> Also can someone explain how this expression was born and what does the “occioni” part stand for?


Bamboccio *(term of endearment) *of bambo/bambino
piccolo fantoccio   small puppet

ending in this case means "bigger"  with some negative


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## mateintwo

Thanks replies.

As an experienced WR user, I searched dutifully for “bamboccion*i*” before posting but the search yielded 0 results. 

The fact my post was moved to “bamboccion*e*” made me think. When referring to both females and males (in this case mostly males) isn’t the correct word “bamboccion*i*”??


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## Paulfromitaly

mateintwo said:


> When referring to both females and males (in this case mostly males) isn’t the correct word “bamboccion*i*”??


Sure it is.


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## dadola

*What do you translate "bamboccione"? It's something like "mummy"?*

*The italian context is: "Figli bamboccioni. Vanno mantenuti?"*


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## elfa

The term 'mummy's boys' exists.


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## dadola

Yes, I know that. But I would like to know how bamboccione can be translated.


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## Lndn

It could be 'mummy's boy'.

Or 'big baby'. 

I'm not sure, but doesn't 'bamboccione' mean an adult son who still relies on/lives with his parents? The problem is that this phenomenon seems to be a lot more common in Italy than England, so I'm not sure we have a specific word to convey the concept!


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## MStraf

If you mean an adult who still lives with the parents (and he/she is happy about it) I would say "spoiled adult brat"


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## dadola

Yes it is a problem more common in Italy than England, and it means what you say. So it could be "mummy's boy" or "big baby"...I don't know why, but I think that big baby it's better, maybe.


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## elfa

You could say "stay-at-home adults". We don't have a specific word for it, although the press have coined this term because this is an increasing phenomenon in the UK (although not as widespread as in Italy).


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## Lndn

I suppose it depends on whether you want the meaning to be at all derogatory/teasing, which I'm guessing it is in Italian, or can it also be used in a more formal sense?


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## beccamutt

In America we say "mamma's boy".  Though this doesn't necessarily mean that he's still living with his parents, he could just be overly attached/dependant on them.


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## dadola

MStraf said:


> If you mean an adult who still lives with the parents (and he/she is happy about it) I would say "spoiled adult brat"


 
This article deals with a 32 daugther, 8 years out-of-course, supported by his father that don't want to pay for the rest of his life her study.


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## byrne

then it's a difficult, one as her family reject the idea of supporting her. The above examples sugest that the parents are willing partners in the relationship...

I don't know... something like "freeloading adult offspring"
It's awful but it might help someone else come up with something better...


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## elfa

How about "Sponger" or, to use byrne's suggestion,

"Sponging offspring"?


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## dadola

byrne said:


> then it's a difficult, one as her family reject the idea of supporting her. The above examples sugest that the parents are willing partners in the relationship...
> 
> I don't know... something like "freeloading adult offspring"
> It's awful but it might help someone else come up with something better...


 

In reality, the parents are devorced. And is the father that doesn't want to suppor her anymore, but a judge decided that he was wrong and whatever he has to support her.


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## ElFrikiChino

byrne said:


> then it's a difficult, one as her family reject the idea of supporting her. The above examples sugest that the parents are willing partners in the relationship...
> 
> I don't know... something like "freeloading adult offspring"
> It's awful but it might help someone else come up with something better...



Actuall I think her parents got a divorce, and his father has to support her while she studies. But she's 32 and hasn't graduated yet (she's 8 years late), so he doesn't want to pay any more money.
I'm not sure this helps any native coming up with a transaltion, but this is the situation.


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## byrne

elfa said:


> How about "Sponger" or, to use byrne's suggestion,
> 
> "Sponging offspring"?


 
I like it!


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## Lndn

How about describing her as a 'dependent'? Or maybe, since it has been legally ruled that her father must support her, a 'legal dependent'.


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## dadola

Lndn said:


> How about describing her as a 'dependent'? Or maybe, since it has been legally ruled that her father must support her, a 'legal dependent'.


 
It seems something legal/juridical.


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## ElFrikiChino

I believe the term "bamboccione" refers to two situations:

1) Her father needs to support her, but *more importantly* 2) she's 32yo, she's not graduated yet, she still lives with her parents (?) and these are the reasons why she needs her father to support her.


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## jepsonclough

Going back to an earlier post; I wouldn't use "big baby" in this context.  To me, the term "a big baby" would usually be applied to someone who was very immature emotionally.  e.g.: "He threw a tantrum when he didn't get his own way.  The big baby!"


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## Lndn

Just in case you're still interested, I saw this on the BBC website and thought of this thread:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8471644.stm?ls

Refers to the generation of 'stay-at-homers' in Italy. It also talks about the very same court case with the 32 year old girl being supported by her father. Might give you some translation ideas if they're still needed!


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## GavinW

I've just translated this as "grown-up kids" in the following context:

Luca Ricolfi calcola che nonni e padri italiani hanno risparmiato la più pingue ricchezza del mondo occidentale per le future generazioni e attribuisce a questo fenomeno la “mollezza” dei giovani italiani, i “bamboccioni”. È vero che il tesoretto sociale tricolore non ha uguali, ma non genera rilassatezza, anzi frustra padri e madri che vedono i figli senza lavoro, e umilia i figli, innescando tensioni e localismi.

I thought "stay-at-home offspring", or whatever, was only telling part of the story, and a part that was not necessarily the most significant aspect.


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## RICCARDOS

Some additonal possibilities:

There is the term “YUCKIES,” which stands for Young Unwitting Costly Kids. It refers to adult children who rely on their parents for regular financial support and typically live in their parents' home.

Also, the term "boomerang kids" which refers to adult children who have left home temporarly - typically to go to college - and return to their parent's home to live there indefinitely. It also includes adult children who get married but return (along with spouse and children) to their parents' home - again with the intention of living there indefinitely.


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## jepsonclough

I guess we develop terminology for significant phenomena.  As this isn't a big deal in the English speaking world, we don't yet have a snappy term for it.  It may well be that "yuckies" becomes widely used in the future but I don't think it's there yet - certainly not in the UK where I have never heard it.  Meanwhile, longer, descriptive phrases seem to be used: "adult children living at home" (and slight variations) seems to be quite commonly found on Google.

Interestingly though, we do have a fairly widely used term for the opposite phenomenon: parents all of whose children have left home are "empty nesters" and the loneliness they feel when the house is empty of all their offspring can be referred to as "empty nest syndrome".


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## Paulfromitaly

I guess someone may call them "clipped wing generation".


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