speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno

English translation: let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Italian term or phrase:	speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno
English translation:	let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog
Entered by:	Lisa Jane

19:19 Jan 7, 2018

Italian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / In An Interview With A Rock Musician

Italian term or phrase: speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno

Contesto:

La musica era liberazione e le canzoni mandavano al diavolo i padroni della terra che constringevano i contadini alla schiavatù. Più o meno la situazione odierna...solo che oggi qualche artista, per puro compiacimento personale, solletica l'ascella al padrone! Speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno!

Molte Grazie,

Barbara

Barbara Cochran, MFA KudoZ activity Questions: 1895 (7 open) (3 without valid answers) (234 closed without grading) Answers: 3899 United States
Local time: 10:56

let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog

Explanation:
The master is being teased by the dog so if we turn it around let's hope it's not the dog that is being bitten/being teased by the master.

Solleticare is also translatable with tease so this could work.

Should you want to keep the spider... let's hope it's not the master that tickles the spider...but I think dog and master work s better in English.

Selected response from:

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 16:56

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

Let's hope the master doesn't end up leading the dance!

bluenoric

let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog

Lisa Jane

Let's hope that the Master doesn't poke bear

David South

Summary of reference entries provided

Sorry, rambling reply alert :-)

Dan Newton

Answers

1 hr confidence:

let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 16:56
Native speaker of:

English,

Italian
PRO pts in category: 496

24 mins confidence:

Let's hope that the Master doesn't poke bear

Explanation:
I am not too sure about this one. It is a hard idiom to translate.

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Note added at 13 hrs (2018-01-08 08:37:33 GMT)
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poke the bear*

David South
Spain
Local time: 16:56
Native speaker of:

English,

Italian
PRO pts in category: 8

13 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Let's hope the master doesn't end up leading the dance!

Explanation:
I'm afraid I have to disagree with the previous answers. "Pizzicare il ragno" is no idiomatic expression, it is a reference to the cultural and musical phenomenon of Tarantism, typical of Southern Italy in general and of the Salento region in particular.
The ST is a quite clever play on words which is of course very hard to render in English. I "put leading the dance" but there might be better ways to translate it, depending on the context you could even leave the original pizzica (see reference below)

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Note added at 1 day 12 hrs (2018-01-09 08:05:04 GMT) Post-grading
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@ Lisa Jane Given that the ST comes from an article titled "Intervista ai Sud Sound System" that is all about the Salento music scene, I rest my case...
https://books.google.de/books?id=_nNmmyfe4oMC&pg=PA115&lpg=P...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzica

bluenoric
Germany
Local time: 16:56
Native speaker of:

Italian
PRO pts in category: 20

Reference comments

1 day 12 hrs peer agreement (net): +1

Reference: Sorry, rambling reply alert :-)

Reference information:
This is from an interview with one of the member of the group Sud Sound System (as has already been noted in a previous Proz question, the full context of the phrase can be found on google books), whose Wikipedia page begins as follows:
“I Sud Sound System sono un sound system di musica raggamuffin e dancehall reggae originario del Salento, che combina ritmi giamaicani e sonorità locali, come l'uso del dialetto salentino e le ballate di pizzica e tarantella.”
Clearly then, if we are going to consider context at all, we have to conclude that the reference to the spider is anything but irrelevant.
The phrase in question comes in response to the following question:
“Ultimamente il Salento sembra una terra molto florida, in quanto a musicisti e attività culturali. Come mai ci sono tante band provenienti da questo territorio?” The full reply is as follows:
“Ci sono due aspetti da considerare: il primo aspetto riguarda la storia musicale del Salento, che si perde nella notte dei tempi, il secondo aspetto è legato ad una momentanea isteria collettiva che sicuramente ha esasperato questo fenomeno musicale. Il fatto che oggi ci siano tanti gruppi e tanti artisti nel Salento corrisponde a quanto accadeva qualche secolo fa, quando i nostri nonni facevano festa ogni sera con tamburelli, chitarre e mandolini. La musica era liberazione e le canzoni mandavano al diavolo i padroni della terra che costringevano i contadini alla schiavitù. Più o meno la situazione odierna...solo che oggi qualche artista, per puro compiacimento personale, solletica l'ascella al padrone! Speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno!
The key here I think is the meaning of that “solletica l’ascella al padrone”, which has been dealt with here: https://www.proz.com/kudoz/italian_to_english/idioms_maxims_...
I’m willing to accept that this may be the correct interpretation, but I do have my doubts. Are we quite sure the musician isn’t suggesting the opposite, i.e. that some musicians might be taking advantage of the new-found popularity of the tarantella to “cozy up” to the “padrone” (and that this ‘solleticare’ may lead the padrone at some stage to “bite back”)? Also, with regard to the relevance or otherwise of the whole tarantella/pizzica myth to the translation, I would suggest that the reference to “momentanea isteria collettiva” is also far from ‘innocent’!

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Note added at 1 day 12 hrs (2018-01-09 08:13:46 GMT) Post-grading
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Re-reading the phrase, the "ragno" could even be taken as standing in for the whole neo pizzica/tarantella movement. In which case, the "padrone biting the spider" could perhaps suggest the "owners" (the music business?), as a consequence of being "tickled" by a small group of "sell-outs", co-opting the whole movement for commercial gain. Don't know, perhaps that's way off the mark, but I thought it was worth suggesting...

Dan Newton
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

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speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno

English translation: let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog

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speriamo che non sia il padrone a pizzicare il ragno

English translation: let's hope it's not the master that teases the dog

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