rompere le scatole
Breaking the cans!
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Today’s Parola del Giorno is the expression ròmpere le scàtole,1 which means to get on someone’s nerves or to bother someone.
See the expression used below:
La smettete di rompere le scatole al cane, per favore? Lasciatelo dormire!
Can you stop bothering the dog, please? Let him sleep
1
None of these words normally have accents on them! I indicate them to show where the stress falls on the words. Most Italian or Italian-English dictionaries will indicate stress marks using accent marks, raised dots, or by underlining the appropriate vowel.
In Sicilian, "non mi scassare i cabbasisi" or "non mi compere i cabbasisi" I have heard Pasquano (the late great) say this many times to Montalbano.