Can anyone explain what avere la botte piena, la moglie ubriaca e l'uva sulla vigna means?
Also, are there regional variations of that proverb? If so, what are they?
asked Nov 8, 2013 at 8:27
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regional variations in plain italian or in any of the italian slangs?– Giuseppe MusumeciNov 8, 2013 at 23:33
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@Giuseppe, sorry I don't understand your question; can you rewrite it in plain English? Thank you.– Kyriakos KyritsisNov 10, 2013 at 19:01
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3For the record, I've never heard it including the third part, just the first two.– o0'.Nov 10, 2013 at 19:26
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@KyriakosKyritsis in Italy there are a lot of regional slangs and sometimes you can find variations of a proverb in a specific regional slang. When you ask for "regional variations", are you looking for variations in "official" italian or variations in "regional slang"?– Giuseppe MusumeciNov 11, 2013 at 9:57
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A friend of mine used to say "avere la botte piena e la moglie bottana", but I don't think it qualifies as an "official" variant. :-/– Matteo ItaliaNov 11, 2013 at 14:41
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3 Answers
It has the same meaning of the expression "have your cake and eat it too", that is, when there's a tradeoff you cannot have both things at the same time.
In this case you have three parts:
botte piena = a full barrel [of wine]
moglie ubriaca = a drunk wife
uva sulla vigna = grapes on the vine, the grapes used to make the wine
The third part is sometimes omitted, and you also have avere la moglie piena e la botte ubriaca.
There are some regional variations, for example, in Ferrara there's an s'pol brisa aver galina, ov e cul cald (non si possono avere gallina, uovo e culo caldo; literally, "you can't have chicken, egg and warm ass," where warm ass means not to have to work).
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4Maybe it depends on the region, but often "avere la moglie piena e la botte ubriaca" is a funny joke on the phrasing of "avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca". "Moglie piena" commonly means "pregnant wife", and sometimes "botte ubriaca" means that the wood of the barrell is soaked with wine from previous stockings, and it could give a worse taste to new wine.– ShuNov 9, 2013 at 9:32
It means to want something impossible, since it is not possible to have a barrel full of wine if somebody drank the wine, and it is not possible to have grapes on a grapevine, if the grapes have been used to make wine.
The only variant I know is the shortened version of what you wrote: Avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca.
Much simpler: it is pretending or willing to have one's wife already drunk while having the barrel of wine still full for having all desires fulfilled. In (Argy) Spanish: "tener la chancha, los veinte (lechones) y la máquina de hacer chorizos".
