Coatto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Italy, a Coatto (also known as a Truzzo or a Tamarro) is a stereotype of a young urban subproletar, usually with an attitude and rude and violent manners. (The name has found its way to many prestigious Italian dictionaries such as Zanichelli's and De Mauro's ones.)
The literal meaning of the word is "Someone who is coerced, under coercion", from the Latin coactum (noun) and coagere (verb) and came from the criminal jargon about "Domicilio Coatto" (= Forced Domicile, as in House Arrests). The name Coatto originates roughly around the 1960s in the suburbs and popular housing projects of Rome. Initially it was connected with convicted criminals on parole or having pending trials, who had to reply "Nun posso, sò coatto" (Romanesco for "I cannot, I'm coerced") to eventual proposals of participating in illegal activities, as doing so was inhibited by their parole terms or pending trials.
Popular culture in Italy (especially Italian hip hop and Er Piotta's songs) helped spread the image and stereotype of the Coatto from Rome, where it originated, throughout Italy.
The figure of the Coatto can be considered a rough Italian equivalent of the British Chav, and other similar urban subculture figures in other parts of the world, such as the German Mantafahrer or the United States white trash.
A Coatto is usually a young, working-class male from downgraded suburbs of big italian cities, especially Rome.
Common characteristics of the stereotypical Coatto include, but are not limited to:
- Having a vast repertory of surreally "badass" threatening or/and provocative phrases, comparable to the African-American Yo mama jokes.
- Often rude and/or violent manners.
- Speaking in a nearly uncomprehensible mix of dialect and slang.
- Owning a tastelessly modified car.
- Obstensibly showing off a macho and virile image of oneself.
- Showing off in expensive clothes, or, on the opposite, in a "macho" dressing style.
- Kitsch taste in choice of clothing.
