These women are usually celebrities: movie stars, socialites, journalists, etc, and they usually make a point of always dating men who are a few decades younger than they are.
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1Interesting question. I don't think there is an exact traslation for English cougar, the Italian tardona doesn't imply that the woman is dating a young man but only that she is old and behaves as if she's young (and actually she's ridiculous). However, I prefer men older than me hahaha– CarLaTeXDec 3, 2016 at 5:12
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2@FrancescoAnastasio: In English is cougar woman.– CarLaTeXDec 3, 2016 at 9:46
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3There is an old phrase to indicate an older woman who more or less routinely, more or less cheaply ;-), would introduce young cadets to sex. It is nave scuola ("school ship").– LSerniDec 3, 2016 at 12:25
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1@LSerni That's not the case here. I mean women who date and eventually marry men who are much younger. As CarLaTex mentioned, the English equivalent is "a cougar"– CentaurusDec 3, 2016 at 14:59
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1@Centaurus , I know. That's why I made it a comment and not an answer; I hope that someone might find it useful yet.– LSerniDec 3, 2016 at 15:41
1 Answer
We use the term tardona to suggest a mature woman who dresses and behaves as a young woman. I think the term may well be used to refer to the context you are suggesting:
- donna di mezza età che si comporta, si veste ecc. come una donna più giovane pensando di essere attraente.
Garzanti
Note also that the term Milf is becoming more and more common in Italy:
Il termine Milf è ormai entrato nel linguaggio comune, specialmente di quello dei ragazzi di oggi.
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1But, see my comment to the question, the Italian tardona doesn't imply that the woman is dating a young man but only that she is old and behaves as if she's young (and actually she's ridiculous).– CarLaTeXDec 4, 2016 at 4:07
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@CarLaTeX - I saw your comment but I disagree. The term "tardona" is actually the term we would use whenever we see a mature woman with a younger man. Also: why would a mature person (man or woman) dress and behave like a younger person to look "more attractive" (as the dictionary says)? I think this term has a "sexual" connotation that we (Italians) are relactant to explicitly recognise, probably for cultural reasons. The fact that a mature woman dates younger men is something still frowned upon socially, though things are changing quite rapidly in that respect.– user519Dec 4, 2016 at 7:55
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1I would use tardona for a woman that dresses like a young one even if she is dating old men...– CarLaTeXDec 4, 2016 at 7:58
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@CarLaTeX - Yes, that was the usual context where we used to see a "tardona", now things are changing and we would more and more often see them in public with younger men. (Barbara d'Urso is probably a well known example).– user519Dec 4, 2016 at 8:06
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