rompere le scatole
Breaking the cans!
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.