Forty-two is 'o ccafè, coffee, and the spelling records a piece of grammar Italian threw away. Neapolitan kept a neuter gender for substances and mass nouns, marked not by the article but by lengthening the first consonant of the noun after it. 'O cafè would be a single cup; 'o ccafè is coffee as a thing in the world.
The same mark is on 'o ppane at 50 and 'o vino bbuono at 45. Once you can see it, the board starts reading like a grammar exercise.
- 42
- 'O ccafè
- coffee
- Row 41–50 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
No source. Coffee is on the board because coffee is on every table in the city.
Other things filed on 42
In Neapolitan life
Naples runs an institution around it. The caffè sospeso, the suspended coffee, is the custom of paying for two and drinking one, leaving the second on account for whoever comes in unable to afford it. It is a real practice, periodically revived, and it is the sort of thing that makes a square on a tombola board feel less arbitrary than it is.
42 in the smorfia — frequently asked
The doubled consonant marks the Neapolitan neuter, used for mass nouns. It distinguishes coffee-in-general from a single cup.
Yes, and a documented one — paying for two coffees, drinking one and leaving the other on account for whoever cannot afford it. It is periodically revived rather than continuous.