Learn something new...

Well I don’t understand this. I was trying to translate something from Italian to English and I kept getting “to drink a toast” for some strange reason. So I typed “toast” in my Collins translator and guess what came back, “brindisi”. I don’t know why no one told me the town I live in means toast (as in a speech given with a drink, not the burnt bread thing). I would have thought that SOMEBODY in Brindisi would have thought that this is a fun fact to share with Americans. I assumed it didn’t mean anything since no one said anything. Also “brindare a” means “to drink to”, now this is something I could use. I’ve tried other town names but they seem to not mean anything, unless it’s really obvious like Alberobello, which means “beautiful tree”. I knew that one a long time ago.
I also want to put this blog up before I’m back in Italy because I have been reading articles about the new law in Italy that prohibits smoking in public buildings (some exceptions for places with sufficient air circulation blah, blah, blah). Will the Big Ben be smoke free? The news articles make it sound like a big deal but I have a feeling I won’t see a difference. I really don’t notice people smoking inside that much. That may be because the weather is normally nice enough for people to go outside and smoke. A lot of them already do out of courtesy for others. I know it’s hard to believe. I guess the streets may have more cigarette butts in them as more people go outside and throw their cigarettes down EVEN MORE than they do now. There are two sides to every rule. I’ll come back to this subject next week.