# Sicilian: Scowl



## mamette

When we were kids, our Sicilian father called a scowl or frown "fungia".  That's the way it sounded to us, "foongia".  I have been unable to find a translation.  Any ideas?


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## oetzi

The word is "funcia"; in Italian you would say "muso" (literal or figurative) or "broncio" (figurative).


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## mamette

Thanks for such a speedy response!  So "funcia" is Sicilian dialect and "muso" or "broncio" are Italian?


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## oetzi

That's right. "_Muso_" means "face, mug", while "_broncio_" means "sulk".
"_Fare il muso_" and "_avere il broncio_" are equivalent expressions, meaning "to sulk, to be in a sulk" or alike.


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## mamette

Thank you.


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## oetzi

You are welcome. 
Just one warning: "muso" usually indicates the face of an animal. If you want to use it in relation to a person, you must be very careful, since either you are in a close confidence with them, or you seriously risk being offensive.

On the other hand, "muso" is currently used in a few expressions, such as "fare (avere) il muso" or "a brutto muso, a muso duro" (bluntly).


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## ElaineG

Ragazzi,

We have had several interesting threads on dialects and their mutual intelligibility.

Here's just one example: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=27180&highlight=dialect

Qui c'`e un altro: 

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=126010&page=2&highlight=dialetti

I suggest a search on dialect or dialetti -- you'll get lots of info.  If you want to have a discussion that it isn't covered, I invite you to open a new thread, asking a specific question.

Thanks,

Elaine


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## JVadala

My father was second generation Sicilian-American and a lot of little Sicilianisms were used when I was growing up and this was one we used in that context in my Sicilian-American family too. A ‘fungia face’ and the phonetic spelling you included, meant a fussy scowl. 

Other words were figgadenia for the cactus fruit we’d eat, agita, Nunu instead of Nono etc.. it was so nice to see this post. I was just telling my partner about this phrase we used. Yours was the only reference I’ve found so far. Interesting!


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## You little ripper!

JVadala said:


> My father was second generation Sicilian-American and a lot of little Sicilianisms were used when I was growing up and this was one we used in that context in my Sicilian-American family too. A ‘fungia face’ and the phonetic spelling you included, meant a fussy scowl.
> 
> Other words were figgadenia for the cactus fruit we’d eat, agita, Nunu instead of Nono etc.. it was so nice to see this post. I was just telling my partner about this phrase we used. Yours was the only reference I’ve found so far. Interesting!


'Funcia' also means _mushroom_ in Sicilian.

'Fichi d'india' are my second favourite fruit, fresh figs being my most favourite. We know them here as _prickly pears_ or _Indian figs_.

Opuntia ficus-indica - Wikipedia

'Nonnu' is what Sicilians call their grandfather. It may vary in different parts of Italy.


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