My family is from Reggio, Calabria and I know that when I have gone over there and when my parents travel there every year, many of the Calabrians and Abbruzese look at Sicilians as peasants and untrustworthy people. The southern Italians also still have nothing good to say about Northern Italians (as my dad was born in San Marino-his dad from Calabria, his mom from from Bologna). And vice versa, Northern Italians look at Southern Italians as peasants and uneducated.

Similar to how in the U.S, there are labels for all the different parts of the country. The south has rednecks, the northerners have money, the Midwest is wholesome and full of nice people, the west coast are liberal hippies etc...most likely the same in every country.

Then I assume JCB that you can speak the language, no?

Menza menz...I understand it very well when my parents speak it, but for the most part, they tried to adopt the American language immediately as well as America values...my dad is more antiquated, my mom is more in tune with the times.

Oli's my pal. I was just busting his onions and he knows it. But for the record, he started it with that Calabrese crack .

Thank you for clarifying that and using the United States as an Example. I could care less what part you come from. I just can't stand Italians that try and act or promote that there SUPER ITALIAN!!

I mean bumper stickers, T-shirts.. " It's Gravy not sauce" my great grand mudda always said gravvy gtfoh Fucking bunch of wannabe reality tv stars certain places you go.

Exactly. If your family got here a hundred years ago, and you still feel the need to act and sound like Vinnie Barbarino, then something's missing.

All kidding aside, they did a geat job of depicting that on "The Sopranos." Those assholes talked and talked about "what part a da boot are u from," and "we're goin to de udda side on business." Yet when they finally got there, the REAL Italians made fun of them. I'm reminded of Paulie asking for "regular macaroni and gravy" at the restaurant. Fuckin moron .

PB a lot of women and I guess some men to picked up the whole OO Maddone bolshit from the sopranos too My wife ever says that shit she knows she has a beating coming you know what I'm saying PB Old World Style

Reminds me of Paulie in "The Pope of Greenwich Village."

I mean, you don’t abuse ‘em once in a while they’ll shit all over you. I don’t mean you walk around morning to night whackin’ ‘em upside the head like someone from the other side, but you terrorize ‘em once in a while just to keep ‘em in line. Know what I mean? Like sometimes, when they embarrass you in front of your friends, you whack ‘em with a backhand. You’re not in the middle of the road like some fucking animal, but nice, in the bedroom. Ba-boom! “What am I? Some kind of fucking asshole? Get your coat on fast and you don’t say goodnight to nobody! You understand me?” That’s to keep them humble. When you don’t let them say goodnight to nobody, they walk out looking at the fucking floor.

One of my all time favorite movies...and scenes!!

I'm from the Youngstown, OH area, so I don't have anything close to a Jersey accent.

Yeah, I remember when Boom-Boom Mancini went on "Who's the Boss?" and tried to sound like he was from Brooklyn. It was tragic .

My grandpa and Boom Boom's dad Ray Sr were very close friends, great family

How about when Paulie and Pussy were in the coffee shop and Paulie wanted an "Exspresso". (madonne)

What's bad about being from throgs neck and being calabrese exactly if I may ask? And I agree with pizza boy, being American is first and foremost for me also.

I agree so much. The jersey shore cast members and everything. Personally I enjoyed that show because I felt it was entertaining but in reality it was sickening. These guys were American not italian. If you were raised italian you know what being italian is. Those who try to boast seem to not know what being italian really is.

jersey shore cast is NOT from New Jersey...just wanted to put that ut there.....

as for the rest of this conversation......"Jimmy and I had to sit back and take it....it was among the Italians"

but EVERYTHING discussed in this thread......regional internal prejudices and stereotypes, people being SUPER-ethnic on a surface level,actual residents of your "mother country" openly laughing at you for claiming to be/act like you are from there....applies to every ethnic or immigrant group.....trust me.

blot out "sicilian" and "italian" and I could swear that this thread was a transcript of conversations I've had with friends.

I always found that part at 1:35 hilarious. How he does a total 180 and starts asking about the apartment. "What the hell happened here?"

Me too, Ivy. Me too .

so what your telling me is that these guys wont fit in if they go to Italy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmRlcZ_-QU

I was talking with my Italian brother-in-law and this topic came up. I asked him the difference between Italians and Sicilians and he answered, "The amount of facial hair on the women."

I didn't ask him which had more.

Lol^

haha that reminds me of how a local cafe here had a chalkboard advertising their coffee drinks, etc. and they wrote 'expresso'

Sicilians

Sicilians were raped by black people and northern Italians weren't?

I don't think they were raped, if anything it was consensual

That's a myth based on racism.

People from North Africa such as the Moors and Berbers are Caucasian.

The people in Europe who have the most North African DNA or heritage, are not Italians or Sicilians but are people from Southern Spain and Portugal.

^^^ Exactly.
I would quibble about all Moors or Berbers being "Caucasian" because that term is more social than biologically descriptive but as pointed out the European people with the most genetic African inheritance are from Iberia, not Sicily.

Some of this heritage is thought to go back to prehistoric times (i.e more than 10,000 years prior) The rest might have come via Roman conquest, Vandal conquests, Atlantic Slave trade, migrations, Moorish conquest, and of course people just getting together to do the do as they've always done.

Some of the latest science suggests that "white" skin, as Americans would understand it anyway is a relatively recent development in Europe (6-7000 yrs ago)

Population groups always shade (pun definitely intended) into each other. It's difficult to draw hard and fast lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_admixture_in_Europe