Nineteen is 'a resata, the laugh. Coming straight after blood, it is the board changing the subject.
Neapolitan drops the Italian i of risata to resata, one of the vowel shifts that makes written dialect look harder than it sounds.
- 19
- 'A resata
- laughter
- Row 11–20 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
Nothing recorded. Nineteen is one of the squares that simply is what it is.
Other things filed on 19
A brain (cervello)
A convulsion (convulsione)
An embassy (ambasciata)
An oboe (oboe)
A messenger (fattorino)
A sewer (cloaca)
An imbecile (imbecille)
In Neapolitan life
Sicily puts San Giuseppe here instead. The two boards run in step for long stretches through the teens and then part without warning, which is the normal texture of the thing rather than an anomaly.
19 in the smorfia — frequently asked
'A resata is a single laugh, a burst of it, rather than laughter as a general condition.
From the Italian risata, with the vowel lowered. Neapolitan does the same to risposta, ricordo and a long list of others.