/ˈɛssere ˈpappa e ˈtʃittʃa/ lit. ‘to be mush and meat’
Italian idiom, familiar. Two people who are very close friends.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use Essere pappa e ciccia
?
Familiar and warm, mostly said about two friends from the outside: “quelle due sono pappa e ciccia”. It can carry a hint of mockery when the closeness looks suspicious, like two colleagues always taking each other’s side. With one person named it becomes “è pappa e ciccia con il capo”.
Also said essere pappa e ciccia con qualcuno
Essere pappa e ciccia
in real sentences
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Eravamo pappa e ciccia.
We were thick as thieves.
Tatoeba, sentence by Nuel, translation by Nuel, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Essere pappa e ciccia
come from?
Treccani glosses “essere pappa e ciccia con qualcuno” as being on close, confiding terms with them, and English Wiktionary gives it as an Italian translation of “thick as thieves”. “Pappa” is baby mush and “ciccia” is the child’s word for meat, both from the nursery. Why they’re paired isn’t explained anywhere; the obvious guess, two things that end up in the same bowl, is only a guess.
Mistakes learners make with Essere pappa e ciccia
Treating “pappa e ciccia” as an adjective and making it agree. It never changes: two women are “pappa e ciccia”, not “pappe e cicce”.
Other Italian idioms like Essere pappa e ciccia
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