Gay Vatican Sex Rings in Translation: Ball Touching Actually Legit

Yesterday’s highly amusing/creepy news about the alleged Vatican-adjacent prostitution ring is getting the treatment that all non-English language news gets: iffy translations that leave more than nuance behind. So yesterday’s pullquote everywhere went like this: “You’ll get up to 2,000 euros… Do not touch his balls. You need the money. Put on some music, take out the [inaudible], swallow the Viagra, and adelante!” Fortunately, Our Special Italian Correspondent for Sex Rings can assist with the original, particularly that whole “no touching of balls” weirdness? She writes: “’Non rompere il cazzo’ is an idiomatic phrase which literally translates as ‘Don’t break my dick,’ but which means ‘Don’t be a pain in the ass! Don’t annoy me!’ (basically the same as ‘Don’t break my balls’ as said by some trucker in Bay Ridge or something), but they translate it as ‘Don’t touch his balls.’ Salacious…but unfounded.” Ha, yes, that actually does change the tenor of the wiretapped conversation-instead of being about providing sexual directives, that part instead appears to be a price-haggling conversation. Far more Italian!