The “Boh…..” Blogpost

Looking out from Da Sagraro to the East toward Padova

Festa Della Trebbiatura (Threshing Festival)

Prologue: The photos in this post have nothing to do with the post itself.  They are photos of just some random events from this month that I included because they are so great and they may not get included anywhere else.


There are all kinds of interesting phrases, expressions, and sayings we run across in our endeavors to learn the Italian language and culture.  I’m still trying to fully master one expression that apparently has many little twists:  “Boh….”

The first time I heard it, one of the guys on my staff said it as we were finishing a short discussion.  I was in the process of walking away since we had stopped talking, he said it, and I did a kind-of double-take because I wasn’t sure what he said or whether it was something I needed to respond to.  In that moment, I could see that he had moved on to something else as he said it, so I just walked away.

Then I heard it again one day by someone else.  Then again.  For a while, I couldn’t figure out whether it was just an end-of-conversation grunt, a form of a sigh, or what.  Well, like a lot of times when learning the language, you hear something, don’t know exactly what it means, make a mental note of it, and then you’ll hear it over and over and over.  So I kept listening and paying attention and tried to figure out what this expression was all about.  I finally figured it meant something like, “Uh, I dunno…” or “Oh well…”

My beautiful wife at Agriturismo Ca' Bianca

Then I finally asked my guys about it.  For the most part, it seems, it does more-or-less mean “Oh well…”, but I gather it has a more exasperated, can’t be helped, there are forces beyond our control working here – tone to it.  Almost like, “That’s the way things are, I guess, so what the Hell do you want me to do about it?”  Maybe a little like “It is what it is.”  {Another classic expression in Italian “piu o meno” for “more or less”, since nothing is exactly anything here.}

Calici delle Stelle

But it also has little twists, I gathered.  If you say it more like “Buh…”, it seems to mean more of the “I dunno.”  If you say it more like “Bah…”, it seems to mean more like “What the frick?”
 So now I try to pull it out myself when I think it may be appropriate.  Of course, I’m still way too eager with it.  I’ll be in a conversation, see a good opportunity to pull out a good “Buh…”, use it, then anxiously raise my eyebrows to look at the person I’m talking to and see if they are impressed with my mastery (cough, cough) of the nuances of the Italian language.  One time, I get the best confirmation of all, I grunted out my best “Buh….” and the person I was talking to grunted back at me “Buh…”.  I walked away from our guttural exchange very happy with myself.

Josh was totally jivvin' with the live jazz performance!

Yet another spectacular evening with the family!

ct