"Beeuuuh!" I was startled. Was the woman sick? Did she have a stomach ache? What was that ugly sound? Almost a burp or a preface to throwing up? I took a step back and hit the corner of the open window. Ouch!! I rubbed my arm.
I was being shown round my new apartment, all 35 square metres of it. A friend had got married and as the flat was too small for a couple had moved into something a little bigger about 100 metres away. It was fine for a person alone so she had thought of me.
I had been of two-minds about it. It was small, rather pokey and a basement flat. It also had a small courtyard, it was near the park and the owners didn't mind my dog.
It was also in one of the more well-to-do areas of the city. Via di Villa Pamphili is one of the main thoroughfares in Monteverde. It is lined by elegant buildings, though sadly, even here, they haven't been spared the attentions of the taggers and graffitti 'artists'.
The bedroom was below ground and against one wall extended a long wardrobe. This was the pokey part of the flat. One step up from it and we were in the kitchen/living room area. It was sparsely furnished with a table and two chairs and basic kitchenette cupboards,an oven and a fridge. Beside the fridge there were three steps onto the small terrace.
I peered out and saw a fruit tree. In the flower bed two cherry tomato plants were growing, one already showing a little shy, early fruit. I noted that the courtyard was covered in gravel, not a blade of grass in sight or even a weed. Someone took care of it.
At the other end of the room, a shallow step led to the bathroom which was where my new landlady and I were.
We were gazing down at the washing machine, a rusty whitish block of unknown brand. My landlady was explaining to me how it worked. She thought I had never used one before.
"This is where the powder goes. If you want, you can put fabric softener here..."
I was happy to have a washing machine. While my previous flat had had the machine in situ, it was broken, and the landlady hadn't been keen on getting it repaired.
"So what does this button do?" I pointed at a knob beside the main temperature selection dial. The symbol on it had, over time and use, been erased. My landlady stooped, perched her glasses on the tip of her thin nose to peer more closely at the button.
There was a longish pause as she surveyed it, followed by "Beuuuuh!", it was an extended guttural sound.
I was startled. She straightened up again, having answered my question and left the room. I looked at the machine again. I guessed I'd just have to experiment.
That was my first encounter with 'boh' albeit in its most inelegant form. My new landlady was just letting me know she had no idea what the button did..
'Boh' is not a real word. It's a sound which conveys the idea of 'I don't know' or 'I don't have the foggiest." And while my landlady chose to modulate it with a long burp-like frequency most people go for a quicker, "boh" before continuing with whatever they are doing, or changing the topic under discussion.
For a while, I used it, probably too much. One day a relative snapped, "Would you stop it?"
"What?"
"That sound. It's really annoying." He was right.
At school students will sometimes answer "boh". A colleague would respond thus: "Bo? Who's Bo? I don't know anyone called Bo. Is he a friend of yours? What's he got to do with the lesson?". He could continue for quite a while along those lines. This was guaranteed to confuse the student and, if they got it, make them drop the noise.
However, as onomatopeic sounds go, it is inoffensive. There are many sounds and interjections, along with accompanying gestures that Italians like to use: mah!, uffa, ah, ahimè, oh,ohi,uh,dai! (daje in Romano), ajò, puah.......
Over time I've learnt to use them, or at the very least not get too annoyed by them.
However there is one sound that really bugs me. I'll put it in context: it's Thursday evening, in class and I say "Turn to page 32 in the student book."
"Eh?!"
"Page 32, please," through gritted teeth as professional smile stays firmly etched on face.
"Eh?!" with accompanying vacant stare and quick glance at neighbours to see what they are doing.
It is rude and lazy.
It can't be that hard to say: "Sorry, I haven't understood. Could you repeat please?" Or maybe it is!
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