"Siamo uomini o avvocati?"
Translation:Are we men or lawyers?
185 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
there's gotta be at least one staff member at duolingo who thought to put "are we human or are we dancer[s]" as one of these sentences hahaha
I know this is Italian, not Spanish but I remember hearing a story about a kid who was bilingual in both English and Spanish because their babysitter was Spanish, and so would sometimes mix up the languages without realizing. Apparently one day they started shouting "I want an avocado!" which, in Spanish, like Italian, sounds like the word for "lawyer". So basically just imagine a little five year old kid screaming "I want a lawyer!" at the babysitter lmfao
the word avocado actually derives from a Nahuatl Indian word that means testicle
BorisChenn: Hm, kinda makes you think twice about ordering guacamole.
I was once at an Italian restaurant in France that offered "salad with lawyer". They meant avocado.
I give a ligot too for the most stupedest sentence yet in English, Spanish or Italian
not fair. just last week , I saw a lawyer put his hand in his own pocket!
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Jokes are not a privilege of certain groups. Everybody is allowed to make them, so there's no need to retreat into your identities. :)
Please don't insult them like that. Vampires have feelings too, you know.
Now go and look up what the phrase "proves the rule" means in that sentence. A good lawyer would never make such a mistake in logic.
I thought It was saying that the moral values of men and lawyers were different , like what they do and stand for. I don't necessarily think it was talking about there state of being or sex but once you become a lawyer you change as a person. Ex: becoming a criminal ,join the military, becoming Buddhas. But if one has to decide between man and lawyer I would think, giving they way media betrays lawyers it would be a bad thing, as a saying or joke.
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Thank goodness, someone on Duolingo with a brain who can actually read into things beyond face value.
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I think there are many who understand the underlying meaning of this phrase but still enjoy jokes written in the comments section
Yeah, like 12 angry men! (dodici uomini arrabiati) altamente raccomandato!
I don't know, but I do know the following joke.
A mother and her young son walking through a cemetery passed by a headstone inscribed: "Here lies a lawyer and an honest man." The little boy read the headstone, looked up at his mother, and asked: "Mommy, why did they bury two men there?"
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Bruciare! That was witty. Lingot for you.
Shakespeare was right... see Henry IV, part 2.
If you actually READ the play, you find that the line is uttered by Jack the Butcher, who is both a nihilist and an anarchist. William Shakespeare wrote that line uttered by a villain. He fully understood the value of the legal profession (professional advocates) You are culturally illiterate and historically ignorant. Goodbye.
Grr, every time I want to make a joke, someone already made it years ago.
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I hope this doesn't count as clutter, but I've just got to say, I appreciate the real answers that are usually so helpful, but I LOVE the snarky responses. (My husband says my tombstone is going to say "she couldn't resist the cheap joke," and it's true!) Thanks, all!
tpamm: I couldn't agree more. While the grammatical comments are really helpful, to be honest it's the 'snarky' posts as you call them that keep me coming back. I've been guilty of a few myself I'm sure.
An excellent question. Assuming that the two are mutually exclusive it will be a hard decision that I cannot help make.
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Mutually exclusive, eh...such as "military intelligence" or "customer service" perhaps....lol
On first glance, I thought it said "...avocados." We were buying ducks in the clothing portion, so it wouldn't surprise me to see food in the occupation lesson.
No, we are are actually female lawyers. Now we have solved that one let's go back into the courtroom.
Yes, one of life's nagging questions that has kept men awake many a night!
[QUESTION]
Can we translate "avvocati" to be "advocates"? I answered like that, and Duolingo marked it wrong. :(
The words in English are certainly related, but lawyer (or barrister or solicitor in non-American variants) is the better choice. Lawyers are all advocates in the sense that they explicitly work for the interests of one party, but not all advocates are lawyers.
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Yes, in general - though now wigs are only worn in criminal cases in the higher courts. Solicitors when appearing in these may also choose to wear a wig.
I don't think it translates that way, but that's how I have remembered what "avvocati" means...since a lawyer should be an advocate for their client.
Yes. Lawyers are advocates for their clients, we hope, but a social worker can be an advocate for a client, a teacher can be an advocate for a student, etc.
Aside from the oddness of the question, it seems Duolingo does not accept British English when translating Italian into English .I used barristers for avvocati and it was marked wrong, but that word is in the Collins English -Italian dictionary as British English for avvocati.
I've reported similar things before (the one I recall is suggesting bit for po' and at least a few have been updated, so report away!
Waiting for "Gli avvocati sono come gli avocadi." (Although it appears that the Italians don't use the plural of avocado like we do -- perhaps incorrectly -- in American English.)
Hijackers Seize Plane Full of Lawyers Going to Convention. Threaten, if Demands Not Met, To Release One an Hour
(I'm a lawyer, btw)
I feel like this is some guy giving lawyers a pep talk and trying to motivate them to do well.
They allow you to vote people's comments up or down (like in reddit), and the most up-voted comments float to the top of the page.
In Mexico we have a popular phrase "¿somos hombres o payasos?", means "are we men or clowns?" is this similar or what?
I think Duolingo gives us sentences like this on purpose, just to see how users react to them.
Can I just point out that this entire conversation from the first comment are lawyer jokes and avocados? If you like either of these, please scroll down like I did...
Are we human, or are we dancers. I dont know, it is an unsolved question... (Killers, 2008)
This is my favourite phrase on here so far. Followed closely by "Why do we die?". Duolingo tackles the big issues.
DeanMSOuthworth: Dancer makes no sense. Avvocati are lawyers or attorneys or barristers, etc.
Are we human or are we dancer is a line from song by The Killers. It was a joke. Not the best of jokes granted, but a joke none the less.
Dean, my apologies then -- let me man up and say, "no use dancin' around it, I just wasn't familiar with it."
Now i would like to ask you a very VERY important question... Are we men? Or are we lawyers!?
"Solicitors" in the UK. Marked wrong :( Must remember this is very much a US app. Still, we can't all be perfect ;)
We do not use solicitors in American English. It is a Uk, Australian adopted word for what we call Lawyers
In Italian, an avvocato is not a solicitor - he is a lawyer. In the UK and Commonwealth countries, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers (who perform distinctly different roles in the legal system). Elsewhere, the profession of lawyer (US) or avocat (France) or abogado (Spain), encompass both (plus, the Code Law countries also have notaries who are generally restricted to conveyancing, document authentication, and similar paper-pushing roles that lawyers also perform in the U.S.).
that reminds me of the killers.
Are we human or are we dancers? some existence questions out there. haha
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Lawyers... definitely not human.
Yes I'm allowed to make jabs at lawyers, my mother is a lawyer.
I thought that oppure was the right way to say "or" can anyone help me with that one?
DW should accept "solicitors", it is the English word for the Americanism "lawyers".
I like CASAUBON's humor. I like all the jokes regarding this sentence, including this one: the stupidest sentence in any language. It is possible, of course, that the writers of Duolingo were joking also.
To Jeffrey 8857....Are we here to discuss political, ethical, or whatever issues, or the Italian language? Come on, take a deep breath and focus on what we all want: to understand, speak, and read Italian.
I am pretty sure that even the Duo voice reading the sentence laughed in the middle...
Duolingo cracking wise? I appreciate humor in the learning process. But I understand the risk of trying to be humorous. Snowflakes may somehow find a way to be offended and abandon Duolingo in search of a safe space.
The only people who might take offense are lawyers (although they probably won't because lawyers actually enjoy telling lawyer jokes to one another). I assure you that Snowflakes do not survive in the legal profession. They get their heads handed to them on plates and quickly find other means of making a living. There are no safe spaces in the profession. Pusillanimity is severely punished.
