# avere più corna di un cesto di lumache



## candel

Hi,
Can someone tell me what "avere più corna di un cesto di lumache" might mean? 

Would it by any chance refer to a way of saying that someone is randy as hell? 

Thank you for your help in this matter.


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## L'Enrico

Questa non l'avevo mai sentita, ma mo' me la segno perché è troppo carina 

Comunque, come forse tu sai, in italiano _avere le corna _significa che il tuo partner ti ha tradito. Le lumache hanno due piccoli cornini sulla testa, ed in un cesto di lumache di cornini ce ne sono a decine. Quindi vuol dire che il tuo partner ti ha tradito/ti sta tradendo a tutto spiano.

E.


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## Einstein

To be more cuckolded than a basket of snails... but it doesn't work in English! Can anyone suggest something?

PS I don't think the concept of "horns" in this sense exists in English. Or does any English speaker know this use, i.e. "horned" = betrayed by one's wife?


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## Lorena1970

Einstein said:


> Can anyone suggest something?



You should be the one able to suggest a correspondent idiom...You are the native, and moreover...Aren't you Einstein, are you? 
Ciao E!  Dai, come si dice in inglese quando uno è supercornificato...? O forse non avete le corna..?!


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## Einstein

Lorena1970 said:


> You should be the one able to suggest a correspondent idiom...You are the native, and moreover...Aren't you Einstein, are you?
> Ciao E!  Dai, come si dice in inglese quando uno è supercornificato...? O forse non avete le corna..?!


No, vedi il mio PS, aggiunto mentre scrivevi tu!


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## L'Enrico

Ciao Lorena, grazie del saluto


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## Lorena1970

Einstein said:


> No, vedi il mio PS, aggiunto mentre scrivevi tu!



Immaginavo non le aveste, infatti! E' un paragone troppo "buzzurro" e diretto ,mi sa, per la "British society"



L'Enrico said:


> Ciao Lorena, grazie del saluto


Non volermene, ma il mio saluto era rivolto a una mia vecchia conoscenza (come si vede dal quote del mio post). Saluto anche te, cmq. Cheers e benevenuto su WR!


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## giovannino

Non è _colourful _come l'originale ma forse si potrebbe dire "his girlfriend/wife has cheated on him more times than he can count ".


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## Lorena1970

giovannino said:


> Non è _colourful _come l'originale


Ciao Giovannino!!! In effetti questo è secondo me uno dei detti italiani più belli, peccato che i nostri amici British non abbiano qualcosa di altrettanto colorito ed evocativo, caratterizzato dal loro eccelso "sense of humor". Come dici tu stesso, il detto corrispondente è più tristanzuolo e privo di humor.


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## candel

There is a crude Anglo-saxon one...directed at a loose woman:she has had more cocks than hot dinners/meals.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=toss


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## macforever

...così, tanto per dirla in modo garbato


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## Teerex51

This is, of course, assuming it's a woman doing the screwing sleeping around...


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## Lorena1970

candel said:


> There is a crude Anglo-saxon one...directed at a loose woman:she has had more cocks than hot dinners/meals.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=toss



Quite explicit...! 
Anyway to sound similar to the Italian idiom, you should say, referred to a man:  "His wife/girlfriend has had..........." or, referred to a woman, "Her housband/boyfriend has had more cunts than....". Unfortunately this is explicitly vulgar and not so funny, light and ironical as the Italian one.


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## macforever

Don't beat about the bush, get straight to the point


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## prowlerxpla

To be more cheated than the horns in a basket of snails.... could be???
Ciao Pier


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## Lorena1970

macforever said:


> Don't beat about the bush, get straight to  the point


Scusa, ma questo significa "Non ciurlare nel manico"/"Non menare il can per l'aia": cosa centra con le corna...?




prowlerxpla said:


> To be more cheated than the horns in a basket of snails.... could be???



Temo davvero che non abbia senso. Ma aspettiamo comunque i nativi.


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## candel

He/she shags like a rabbit? is not very offensive and is non gendered.


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## macforever

Lorena1970 said:


> Scusa, ma questo significa "Non ciurlare nel manico"/"Non menare il can per l'aia": cosa centra con le corna...?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Temo davvero che non abbia senso. Ma aspettiamo comunque i nativi.



La mia non era una traduzione ma solo una battuta scherzosa sul linguaggio abbastanza esplicito del thread. Tutto qui.


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## You little ripper!

If the expression simply refers to the promiscuity of the person in question and happens to be a female, we might say,_ She's been banged more times than a taxi door/dunny door/ketchup bottle/blacksmith's anvil/screen door in a hurricane._


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## prowlerxpla

You little ripper! said:


> If the expression simply refers to the promiscuity of the person in question and happens to be a female, we might say,_ She's been banged more times than a taxi door._


Great!!!!!!!, the best I found in the year!!


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## Lorena1970

You little ripper! said:


> _She's been banged more times than a taxi door/ketchup bottle/blacksmith's anvil/screen door in a hurricane._



All are great!!!LOL!  Thank you YLR, excellent as always!


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## CPA

Einstein said:


> PS I don't think the concept of "horns" in this sense exists in English. Or does any English speaker know this use, i.e. "horned" = betrayed by one's wife?



The concept of the "horned" cuckold was much in vogue in England in Shakespeare's day. See this.


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## giginho

candel said:


> There is a crude Anglo-saxon one...directed at a loose woman:she has had more cocks than hot dinners/meals.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=toss



Hi candel,

The one you pointed out is the equivalent of the italian: "ha toccato più palle lei di Del Piero / Totti / Pirlo in tutta la sua carriera". This is a sentence invented by the Gialappa's band during a world championship match, the original was: "Pirlo (midfielder) ha toccato più palle oggi che Moana Pozzi (italian pornstar) in tutta la sua carriera"


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## Nunou

...sì...però in questo caso non si esprime per forza il concetto di tradimento/corna....magari è solo un "libero/attaccante" in campo e una libertina nella vita.
Secondo me, se riusciamo a capire da cosa deriva l'espressione italiana (fare-avere le corna) forse riusciremo anche a trovarne una equivalente in inglese.


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## Einstein

CPA said:


> The concept of the "horned" cuckold was much in vogue in England in Shakespeare's day. See this.


Yes, it does seem that the concept existed in the past, but nowadays I don't think the man in the street would understand if you said he had horns, unless you meant an erection, and in that case why two?

But I find the suggestions for an English version are all far more vulgar than the Italian sentence given at the beginning. Isn't there something a little more delicate? I don't want to be puritanical, but I think an equivalent should be in the same register. No ideas myself, I'm afraid...


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## Tegs

Love the taxi door/screen door reference earlier, but as Nunou said, the main problem so far is that none of these English expressions convey the idea of betrayal, not to mention the difference in slang/delicacy  

We don't have an idiom like you do in Italian, but how about something like:
He's/she's being cheated on left,right and centre
He/she cheats on him/her left, right and centre

Or, slightly different in meaning:
He/she is two-timing her/him (which means that the girl/guy is dating/sleeping with a second person, other than their boyfriend/girlfriend - but it's not a good expression if the person has multiple extra partners)


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## Einstein

Tegs said:


> He/she is two-timing her/him (which means that the girl/guy is dating/sleeping with a second person, other than their boyfriend/girlfriend - but it's not a good expression if the person has multiple extra partners)


Then why not "He/she is multi-timing her/him"?


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## tsoapm

I’m not convinced of this myself, but now I’ve thought of it, I have to get rid of it…

been two-timed more than the official Stravinsky fan club


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## Nunou

Ciao Mark,
sicuro che sia Stravinsky e non Lewinsky fan club? Col primo non colgo l'ironia...ma forse è solo colpa mia!!!


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## tsoapm

Per via della poliritmia…

Sì, lo so


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## Nunou

Ecco alla poliritmia non ci avevo proprio pensato ma chissà perché...  ...avevo immediatamente pensato ad una certa e famosa Lewinsky!


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## Lorena1970

Mark Dobson said:


> the official Stravinsky fan club



Sorry, could you explain what "the official Stravinsky fan club" is? Thanks


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## Nunou

Se interessa, ho scoperto perché si dice "avere le corna / mettere le corna"....non me l'ero mai chiesto prima e non lo sapevo!

Avere le corna:
http://www.curiositaeperche.it/perche/perche-si-dice-avere-le-corna-525

Mettere le corna:
http://it.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080131024231AAac7H8

Quale sarà mai l'origine giusta?  Le fonti non mi sembrano poi così affidabili...


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## Einstein

Purtroppo non ci si può fidare. Ne ho viste di spiegazioni, una delle quali parlava della caccia in Sicilia al tempo degli Arabi! Non si sa. Una volta ho cercato di capire l'origine di "OK"; ho trovato almeno quattro spiegazioni diverse.


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## tsoapm

Sarebbe un'invenzione mia, il circolo ufficiale di ammiratori di Stravinskij!


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## Tegs

Mark Dobson said:


> I’m not convinced of this myself, but now I’ve thought of it, I have to get rid of it…
> 
> been two-timed more than the official Stravinsky fan club



Cool, but too slick for the average Joe!  It depends on who the audience of this translation is. 

Einstein - As for multi-timing, logically, it makes sense, but I've never heard that expression before. I've only heard of two-timing. Have you made it up, or is it used in your part of the UK?


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## london calling

Candel, the sentence you've found is the Italian translation of a Neapolitan expression:

"tien' cchiu' corn' tu ca' na sport' e maruzz"

I think you've had a good few suggestions as to what it means, so I'll shut up.


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## Odysseus54

london calling said:


> Candel, the sentence you've found is the Italian translation of a Neapolitan expression:
> 
> "tien' cchiu' corn' tu ca' na sport' e maruzz"
> 
> I think you've had a good few suggestions as to what it means, so I'll shut up.




I beg to differ - it's a very common expression in my region's dialect too.  It's one of those through which farmers / fishermen / shepherds / bricklayers etc make light of things each in their own dialect, using vivid images from everyday life.

" C'ha piu' corni lu' che 'na cesta de lumaghe " - that's the way we say it between Ancona and Jesi...

I can't think of a possible equivalent - the whole concept of 'corna' is simply not there.   It seems to me that the burden of a wife's infidelity in the Anglo-Saxon culture are on the wife - in the Italian culture they are on the man, and he is the one who is reviled for being weak, a fool, incapable of controlling and possibly satisfying his woman etc etc.


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## london calling

Odysseus54 said:


> I can't think of a possible equivalent - the whole concept of 'corna' is simply not there. It seems to me that the burden of a wife's infidelity in the Anglo-Saxon culture are on the wife - in the Italian culture they are on the man, and he is the one who is reviled for being weak, a fool, incapable of controlling and possibly satisfying his woman etc etc.


I've just discovered it exists in the Bari dialect as well, but I'd never heard it in Italian before, had you?

And I agree with you, as Einstein also said, "cuckolds" are not really part of our way of thinking any more.


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## Lorena1970

london calling said:


> I've just discovered it exists in the Bari dialect as well, but I'd never heard it in Italian before, had you?



Sì LC, in Toscana si usa esattamente come riportato nell'OP!!!


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## london calling

Lorena1970 said:


> Sì LC, in Toscana si usa esattamente come riportato nell'OP!!!


Sì?  Allora chiedo venia, l'avevo visto e sentito solo in dialetto.

Però adesso m'incuriosisce l'origine della frase... 

Edit. Siete stati voi fiorentini! Wikipedia dice che è un proverbio fiorentino:

*Avé' più corna di un cesto di lumache*


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## Lorena1970

london calling said:


> Però adesso m'incuriosisce l'origine della frase....



Prova a pensare a quante corna ci sono in un cesto di lumache...! Pare sia di origine ligure.


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## Einstein

Tegs said:


> Cool, but too slick for the average Joe!  It depends on who the audience of this translation is.
> 
> Einstein - As for multi-timing, logically, it makes sense, but I've never heard that expression before. I've only heard of two-timing. Have you made it up, or is it used in your part of the UK?


No, I invented it! I just put it there to see if anyone thought it might work...


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## WordsWordWords

> _She's been banged more times than a taxi door. _



Have never heard that before (or the others ylr listed) -- fantastically funny!!!! 

Wish I could come up with something -- are we Americans still so puritanical?? If something comes to me....


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