Rome Travel Guide

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Monday, July 6, 2009

Flash: Italian Caught Apologizing

OK, so we made a big point just a few days ago that Italians never apologize ("Sorry for this Lousy Post," 6/29). Well, never say never. Indeed, it seems the Italian train system--TRENITALIA--has institutionalized the practice, made a fetish of it, even. If one of their trains is late, they apologize, and not once but twice: once in Italian, and once in Brit-sounding English. And they do this at every stop. So if you're on a long trip, and the train is late from the start and all along your route, you'll be the recipient of dozens of multi-lingual apologies--enough, perhaps, to make one long for the good old days when Italians never apologized.


Our film clip of this new custom can be a bit hard to hear, so turn up the volume and listen to an Italian saying he's sorry. Who's next? The Fonz? Bill

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