Twenty-four is 'e gguardie, the guards — police rather than sentries. The doubled gg after the article is not decoration: Neapolitan lengthens the first consonant of a word after certain small words, and writers mark it in the spelling.
The square belongs to a group. Guards at 24, prison gates at 44, the thief at 79. Whoever built the board had a clear idea of who was going to be dreaming.
- 24
- 'E gguardie
- the guards
- Row 21–30 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
Not recorded. Twenty-four has no obvious arithmetic or calendrical hook and no compiler has claimed one.
Other things filed on 24
In Neapolitan life
Sicily gives 24 to Christmas Eve and, as a variant, to the horse and cart, with a note explaining that a Sicilian cart's two wheels have twelve spokes each. That is a shape reading spelled out; Neapolitan lists almost never show their working like that.
24 in the smorfia — frequently asked
Neapolitan doubles the initial consonant after the plural article 'e. The spelling records how it is said.
Police. Soldiers have their own square at 12; 'e gguardie are the men who arrest you.