Al fresco

Posted by HJR on December 10, 1999

In Reply to: Al fresco posted by bluebaron on December 10, 1999 : : Italian "AL FRESCO" does not mean "in the open air",
: : but just the opposit : "IN JAIL !" literally.
: : Regards
: Pippo: "Teach" and "Kahl" are correct...al fresco "al": in the "fresco": cool. In colloquial Italian: outdoors. It's even in decent English dictionaries. Oh, and YES I did study Italian, and YES, I've been to Italy, and YES any one who has every dined in a sidewalk cafe or courtyard knows what "al fresco" means. Find your local library, quickly, before you get to "al dente"...

Just an observation from one who's been to Italy, dined in many sidewalk cafes and is an amateur linguist. It seems to me that "al fresco" might be colloquial Italian for "in jail" the way Americans use "in the cooler", to express incarceration. Any thoughts?