Sixty is the lament, and the two reference lists disagree about whether it is a noise or a person. Italian tables print 'o lamiento, the lament, with a footnote allowing chi se lamienta, the one who complains. Neapolitan Wikipedia goes straight for the person: chiagne e se lamenta, he weeps and complains.
The phrase is a fixed Neapolitan expression for a particular kind of self-pitying grumbler, and the second version is almost certainly the older one. Turning a character into an abstract noun is what happens when a dialect list gets translated into Italian.
- 60
- 'O lamiento
- the lament
- Row 51–60 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
No recorded reason for the number.
Other things filed on 60
In Neapolitan life
Sixty and 65 divide the territory: the lament is a habit, the weeping at 65 is an event. The board is consistently sharper about states of mind than an English translation makes it look.
60 in the smorfia — frequently asked
Both are printed. The Neapolitan version, chiagne e se lamenta, names the person; Italian tables abstract it into a noun.
The Neapolitan version is a person, the Italian a sound. Translating a character into an abstract noun is how a lot of this board lost its edges.