I went to my Italian class today, and told her about this Old Incompetent Guy and my sauceless pizza of Saturday night. When I got to the bit about pi� di poco, she went "huh?"

Which is always reassuring.

"Pi� (di)" means "more (than)"; "poco" means "a little": I translated it, therefore, as "hardly any." Which would seem to make sense, at least as far as I'm concerned, as Italian has all sorts odd constructions like that. Tutt'e due, for example, literally "all two"-- that is, "both". And it wouldn't be unlike me to miss a phrase like that. Similar things, I'm ashamed to admit, have happened before.

In this case, however, I missed it because it doesn't exist. Nobody says "pi� di poco" because, as my Italian teacher says, it doesn't make any sense.

Although I must admit it makes sense to me. I know exactly why he said it, and what he was trying to accomplish when he did so. Bastard. I never thought he had it in him to be that clever.

My Italian Teacher was also upset that we actually paid for that pizza. Outraged, in fact.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that Elvis tipped him.