Twenty-two is 'o pazzo, the madman. Of all ninety squares this is the one with the best evidence that people actually thought in these numbers rather than merely consulting them.
Matilde Serao, writing about Naples in 1884, reports that to call someone mad you said «è nu vintiroie» — he's a twenty-two. She adds that as an argument escalated the insults kept going in the same code, because every insult had a number attached. The smorfia had stopped being a reference book and become a register of the language.
- 22
- 'O pazzo
- the madman
- Row 21–30 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
The pairing itself has no recorded source. Zezza's 1835 printed list already has Pazzi at 22, so the square is at least that old.
Other things filed on 22
In Neapolitan life
Serao also names 22 in the line the whole city staked out of habit: «l'ambo famoso, sei e ventidue». Two numbers, played every Saturday by people who could not afford it, and coming up about once a generation. She was writing an indictment of the lotto, not a guide to it, which is worth remembering when the same numbers are quoted today.
22 in the smorfia — frequently asked
Yes, and it is documented. Serao records «è nu vintiroie», he's a twenty-two, meaning he is mad, and notes that the whole vocabulary of abuse had numbers behind it.
It is in Zezza's printed Naples smorfia of 1835 and in Serao's reporting of 1884, unchanged.