Kate's Blog

Getting Your Facts Right

So in my latest ms, whose proofs I just finished checking, I had the Italian hero call the heroine [also Italian] passera, which, according to trusty Babelfish, is the female form of passero, or sparrow. This is a running theme throughout the book, and so he calls her passera quite a bit.

The book was accepted, and my editor got back to me during the copyedits because apparently the word passera doesn't exist. Fair enough, I thought, let's go with passero. But the whole exchange made me a trifle wary, so I telephoned my Italian sister-in-law [very handy to have when writing Mediterranean-set romances!] and asked her if passera was indeed a word, and also, incidentally, if she knew of any endearments similar to sparrow.

She emailed me back, rather firmly telling me that passera was most certainly not a word. Then the next day my brother emailed me, amused, to tell me the whole truth: passera is a word, of sorts; it is a very vulgar term for the female genitalia. And this was what my hero was calling my heroine as an endearment!!!

Thank goodness for Italian sister-in-laws [even if she was too embarrassed to tell me what this word meant!] and for more forthright brothers!

My sister-in-law compiled a list of birds that would do as endearments, and we settled on rondinella, which means swallow, and apparently is used in Italy as an endearment. Perfect! Much better than passera, don't you think?

And in any case, I've certainly learned my lesson. All Italian terms, endearments, and names are first run by the indomitable Gabriella!

Labels: oops, the bride's awakening, writing life

posted by Kate Hewitt at 6:25 PM