Italian soccer coach Domenico Di Carlo has become “the first person ejected in European soccer competition for transgressing the new Serie A rule on blasphemy”:
It happened last week, three minutes into the second half of his game against Cagliari, when Di Carlo reportedly said “porco dio,” which according to Babelfish, translates into English as “God pig.”
[T]he Verona club’s coach “proffered a blasphemous expression” that was to make him the first victim of a zero-tolerance policy on irreverence.
The president, Giancarlo Abete, declared it would “intervene with official decisions to make clear that blasphemy is within the definition of ‘offensive, insulting or abusive language’ in the rules [that warrant sending-off]“.
Wow. So you can get kicked out of professional coaching for saying “god pig”? What about if he said “praise God!”? Would that be okay? What if it was said mockingly?
Or what about “gosh darn it”? That’s just a nice way of saying “god damn it” — which is blasphemous.
Perhaps next they will mic up all the players and make sure they are not quietly mumbling any blasphemous phrases…
Funny how god always has to have other people punish people on his behalf.
Not to say it isn’t insane, just to let you know where we stand now: in Italy is quite common. And red cards for mocking God are the rule in other sports: rugby, to give one example. The fancy stuff is that another player of the same team, Marcolini, was saved from the punishment because he said “porco diaz”, which means nothing at all (but sound quite the same) instead of “porco dio”, god pig, as you said.
By Zeus’ testicles!
And would what i just wrote count?
It’s a sacrilege, for Christ’s sake.
I tried to fight it but it’s no use.
“The Inquisition, what a show
The Inquisition, here we go
We know you’re wishing
That we’d go away
But the Inquisition’s here and it’s here to stay “
Actually, “porco Dio” is a *very* strong expression in Italian. It’s widely used, especially in the North, but it’s still considered very, very blasphemous. The meaning is more or less the same as “God damn it”, but a LOT stronger. It’s the kind of thing my mother would slap me for (and I’m 27!).
Still… I agree it’s crazy. But Italy isn’t exactly a normal country. Especially now. It’s a bad, bad, baaaad moment for this country…
You can’t Blaspheme something that doesn’t exist!
LOL “Or what about “gosh darn it”? That’s just a nice way of saying “god damn it” — which is blasphemous.”
I don’t think that will work. I went over that with JK Jones at his site. Euphemisms are OK however he seems incapable of dealing with the language adults use.
God is easy to trick!
True. Adam and Eve outsmarted him when they hid themselves from god after eating the fruit and god couldn’t find them. (or so I’ve been told, don;t remember reading about that farie tale)
That’s pretty sad, I mean they were just created yesterday!
Now where did I put them? I’m sure they were just here…
I’m jealous. Other countries have much more colorful religious profanity than we do!
(Looks like religious people like to keep blanking the blasphemy section on that page. Also see the wikipedia article on Quebec French profanity.)
WRONG!!!!!!!!!! It’s RELIGION THAT’s OFFENSIVE to anyone with a brain!
Come now. I’ve known many fine and intelligent people who were not only not offended by religion, but were/are religious themselves.
But did they have brains, Elemenope? HAH! I got you there.
Profanity is as common as religion in Italy and especially in the North; in the Veneto region is common talk, so much in fact that a priest concerned for the souls of his flock even tried to have the Catholic Church remove “naming God in vain” from the list of the sins, unsuccessfully, despite his point that it was “just part of the everyday language”.
In my school in Padova we had competition for who could produce the longest and most creative swears, “porco dio” being the root and base of all the others.
Whether you just want to know the odds or want to get our analysis of the game, we want to be your first source on the internet. We’ve decided to provide useful news and a handicapping slant it gives a new perspective. We don’t just predict who will win – but who will cover the spread. Visit: http://www.wagering-sports.com/
Jesus saves!
http://www.cafepress.co.uk/+jesus_saves_soccer_shirt_light_tshirt,178464885
It’s very strange how more and more institutions are enacting formal blasphemy laws. First Ireland, now an international soccer organization.
At least it shows that atheism, over the past few years, has become a political force. If people are passing laws against our speech, that means they’ve heard it.
Porko Madonna! . . . . there is a nice one that translates as “god fell down the stairs” bit like “christ on a bike”. It is interesting that the Italians seem to have a full repertoire of these kind of phrases.