Talk&Learn – Foreign Language and Tutoring Services

Another snow storm in March and I’m prompted to think of the expressions with the color white!

“Settimana bianca” (white week) is an expression used to indicate a getaway on the snow. Although the time frame is explicitly a week, it doesn’t necessarily refer to a 7 day trip. Bianca here obviously is a reference to the color of the snow.

“Mangiare in bianco” (Eat ‘white’) is what the doctor would recommend to someone who is recovering. It includes foods such as steamed rice, mashed potatoes and pasta with butter or olive oil. The white of these foods is connected to their light impact on the patient’s digestive system. In my house there’s a recurring joke about the sadness of hospital meals, which traditionally include mashed potatoes, stracchino, and baked apples (neither the potatoes nor the apple have much condiment or flavor and if you’re familiar with stracchino you know that it’s a fairly bland cheese).

“Passare la notte in bianco” (Spend the night ‘in the white’) is never good since it refers to the inability to sleep (not the choice to stay up!).’”Passare la notte in bianco” (Spend the night ‘in the white’) is never good since it refers to the inability to sleep (not the choice to stay up!).

“Di punto in bianco” can be translated as ‘all of a sudden’