a man’s palles being romped
To “romp one’s palles“ is a fantastic Italian phrase that I have Americanized to the point of sheer embarrassment. In order to get the full effect, remember to use this with a heavy American accent… leaning towards Californian (think ‘surfer dude’). Keep in mind the added ‘s‘ is simply to make it sound plural in English, even though the Italian word is already in plural form.
Now, repeat after me:
“Stop romping my palles!”
Rompere quite literally means to break. Palle are balls. So the Italian “rompere le palle” is roughly the equivalent of the English “to bust someone’s balls“.
| Meaning: | To harass with the intent to break one’s spirit. |
| Example: | When I ask you if you settled that dispute with the IRS, I am not just trying to bust your balls. I am trying to help. |
| Origin: | There is a way to castrate a calf, instead of cutting off the testicles you break them. To “bust your balls” is to turn them from a bull into a steer. Properly directed harassment can have a similar effect on humans. |
Married to Italy 
I use this frequently in our household. My Italian husband gets a kick out of it! Cute post.
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I will definitely be adding this to my vocabulary! Thanks for a great post.
any time, happy to help! I need to add my other ones as well… so many, so little time. For example, I am a fan of inserting “dai” into English sentences now. That should be explained with a post.
try also “dont break my dick” – that is more used Rome’s nearby or “scassare” (p…e or c…o) that is more used on the south… In tuscany we say “mi hai cacato il cazzo”
ouch! so graphic, all of these sayings!