la chattata
Parola del giorno | Word of the Day
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Today’s Parola del giorno is the noun la chattata, which means (internet) chat.
I encountered this word while talking with a friend of mine in Italy on Facebook messenger; we hadn’t talked in a while because of our busy schedules. I sent him a quick “hello” on Facebook, he responded, and we exchanged messages briefly. At the end of our discussion, he thanked me for la chattata.
The noun la chattata is a neologism or a new word or expression. In Italian, these new words and expressions are called neologismi.
When you’re chatting with a friend online, use the verb chattare. When you’re chatting with someone face to face, use the expression fare due (o quattro) chiacchiere or the verb chiacchierare to say you’re “chatting.”
So, the interestnig question on this one is: do you pronounce it as if it were the Italian word "ciattata" or does the "ch" follow the customary rules? My own experience is that Italians are consistent as a people, but inconsistent in their pronunciation of foreign words. For example, every Italian seems to pronounce "Levis" as if it were an Italian word (not as if it were "Livais" the closest I can get to how you say "Levis" in Italian spelling) but words like "Facebook" are pronounced as if they were English words. In any case: is "chattata" pronounced as "ciat" or "chat" ?