My paninaro dictionary, a useful guide to some of the most common terms:
Like other subcultures Paninari had their own terminologies, most sadly lost to time.
While reading through this it’s easy to note some similarities in the origin for many of the words:
1. Terms derived from TV advertising (for example Calfor being a descaling detergent)
2. Terms derived from technology, thanks to the diffusion of the first computers (“ram” and “floppy”)
3. The excessive use of english or anglicised terms, probably because of the music they listened to. “Everyday” meaning all the time but also blending italian and english together in “arrapation”
4. American cinema’s influence (“Ramboso”)
This is a list of some of the most useful words to know to be able to understand magazines and such from the time.
Paninaro = derived from Panino (sandwich) + aro (-er), so literally means sandwicher. Comes from the fact that they used to hang out at fast food places (like the iconic but now defunct Burghy), that were at the time very new to Italy.
Al brucio = as fast as possible
Amburghese = a “galletto” that always gets rejected by girls
Appiovrare = to pick up a girl like an octopus
Broccolare = trying to pick up someone
Burghino = synonym of paninaro
Calfort = synonym of damn (“what the calfort are you doing?”)
Cifra = literally number, in this case means a lot (ex. I like him a cifra)
Cinese = literally means Chinese, in this case someone left leaning (would never use this one, but included it because it was pretty commonly used)
Cinghio = “tamarro”, someone or something crude
Ciumba = Woh! Good heavens!
Company = like today’s “squad”, a group of friends
Compilation = a group of something cohesive
Cuccare = to win a girl over
Falchettare = “spotting” a girl
Fuori di melone = out of your mind
Gallo = literally means rooster, in this case means boy
Giusto = literally means right, here used as excellent
Grano = money (literally means grain)
Kiss = well, kiss haha (variants are kissetti, kissettoni, kissettini)
Libidine = pleasure, enjoyment
Mitragliare = to enjoy something (for example sandwiches) with greed or pleasure
Okappa = literally is how you’d reas O.K. in italian (Oh Kappa)
Panozzo = sandwich (derived from panino)
Ram = something to forget (taken from the computer’s RAM)
Ramboso = tough, derived from Rambo (the character)
Randa = derived from randagio meaning stray (in a positive way)
Ruotare = meaning to rotate, used as “to take a motorcycle ride”
Smerigliare il/la gargarozzo/a = to eat
Tamarro = someone crude, not a paninaro
Very appreciation = very sexy
Very original = very original haha
It was also common to shorten words, for example “Timbe” meaning Timberland, “Curma” for Courmayeur.
Credit: ilcubodirubik80.blogspot.com
al brucio = alla massima velocità amburghese = chi va sempre in bianco (l'amburghese è un galletto) appiovrare = abbordare una sfitinzia
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