abbiamo fatto a chi ce lo aveva più duro

English translation: we were always playing at who was/who\'s the hardest

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Italian term or phrase:	abbiamo fatto a chi ce lo aveva più duro
English translation:	we were always playing at who was/who\'s the hardest
Entered by:	Lara Barnett

12:11 Feb 7, 2019

Italian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Relationship-based biography

Italian term or phrase: abbiamo fatto a chi ce lo aveva più duro

In this biographical excerpt, describing relationship between father and son (written fom son's perspective), he has just come across his father in a bar at 10.00 in the morning. His father is described as being full of pain and anger....

"Sofferenza e rabbia. Non mi sono mai riuscito a spiegare questi atteggiamenti e sicuramente questa è una delle cose delle quali non avremmo mai parlato. Da quel momento abbiamo fatto a chi ce lo aveva più duro. Fino a maggio 2010."

I don't exactly know what this is saying.

Lara Barnett KudoZ activity Questions: 2102 (7 open) (12 without valid answers) (216 closed without grading) Answers: 1885 United Kingdom
Local time: 09:14

we were always playing at who was/who's the toughest

Explanation:
Da quel momento abbiamo fatto a chi ce lo aveva più duro.

From that moment on we were always playing at who's the toughest

or

at who was the tougher man

or more idiomatic:

From that moment on we were always trying to man each other out

It's a bit like schoolboys taunting each other with "I can do this and better than you" sort of thing so I would choose the verb play to echo this.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2019-02-07 16:02:07 GMT)
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or indeed the hardest!

'to be hard' is in fact a commonly used phrase in the playground to mean someone is tough/brave/conceited etc. but naturally that would leave the play on words open to interpretation

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Note added at 3 hrs (2019-02-07 16:02:41 GMT)
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at least it is in British English

Selected response from:

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 10:14

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

we were always playing at who was/who's the toughest

Lisa Jane

we went for /played at who had bigger balls/attributes

Michael Korovkin

Discussion entries: 18

Davide Leone

United States

16:50 Feb 7, 2019

You are welcome

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Davide

16:48 Feb 7, 2019

Yes exactly. Lisa Jane has provided a good answer. Thanks for your help.

Davide Leone

United States

15:30 Feb 7, 2019

So basically you are saying that using "harder" would leave the interpretation of the expression up to the reader? It could refer to "that" body part, or to the temperament or attitude of the characters, or to something else?

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Davide

15:25 Feb 7, 2019

But "battle of wills" does not refer to a body-part, while "hard" (as with Italian) can do through interpretation. This is why my last suggestion may be better.

Davide Leone

United States

15:21 Feb 7, 2019

@ Lara

As I said in my last comment to Phil, I shouldn't have said in the first place that the expression has a sexual connotation, but only that it makes a reference to a sexual body part. That's why I still think that "battle of wills" or something similar would effectively convey the meaning of the expression.

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Phil

15:12 Feb 7, 2019

I think Davide does not realise that there is no sexual connotation in "battle of wills", but that there is one in "hard".
Do you think that this works:
"up until that moment the battle would always be won by he who was the harder." ??

Davide Leone

United States

15:06 Feb 7, 2019

@ Phil

I'm sorry, I should have said that it makes a reference to a sexual body part, without actually meaning anything sexual. My bad.

philgoddard

United States

15:03 Feb 7, 2019

I was just going by the fact that you said it has a sexual connotation, but now you say it doesn't.

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Davide/Phil

14:47 Feb 7, 2019

So maybe:
"Up until that moment the battle would always be won by he who was the harder"

Davide Leone

United States

14:31 Feb 7, 2019

@ Lara

Yes I think that your other alternatives can work too

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Davide

14:26 Feb 7, 2019

Yes I see that now, but Phil is right. He is referring to the fact that neither "battle" nor "wills" indicate this body part. Which I why I have tried alternative phrases using "hard", "hardest" etc.

Davide Leone

United States

14:22 Feb 7, 2019

@ Phil
In the south and in Sicily we use a lot of expressions that refer to "certain" body parts metaphorically speaking, without really meaning anything sexual. So that's why a sentence that literally translates into "From that moment on we competed at who had a harder ***" in my opinion can be translated as "From that moment on we started a battle of wills" or something like that.

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Phil

14:11 Feb 7, 2019

But surely if there is no explicit sexual connotation, that is simply a matter of interpretation wouldn't you say?
Unless i just said "a hardened battle of wills" or "a battle of hard wills".
OR alteratively,
"...we battled our way to who was the hardest." ?
"..the battle would be won by the hardest of us."

philgoddard

United States

14:06 Feb 7, 2019

If Davide is right about the sexual connotation, "battle of wills" isn't really quite right.

Davide Leone

United States

13:50 Feb 7, 2019

Yes, I think that "a battle of wills" will get the point across

Lara Barnett

United Kingdom

ASKER

@ Davide

13:39 Feb 7, 2019

A "battle of wills" (see link for meaning):

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/battle-...

Davide Leone

United States

12:24 Feb 7, 2019

Try something like "From that moment on we competed/battled/rivaled at who was tougher among us".

Davide Leone

United States

12:16 Feb 7, 2019

The son is basically saying that he and his father were playing at who was tougher among the two of them. Actually the expression has a sexual connotation as it refers to the penis. It is an expression widely used in southern Italy.

Answers

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

we were always playing at who was/who's the toughest

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 10:14
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Italian
PRO pts in category: 136

23 hrs confidence:

we went for /played at who had bigger balls/attributes

Explanation:
I know it sound vulgar, but that's exactly how it sounds in Italian (you certaibnly know what the expression refers to). Ours is to translate, not to censor :)))

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 10:14
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Russian
PRO pts in category: 36

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abbiamo fatto a chi ce lo aveva più duro

English translation: we were always playing at who was/who\'s the hardest

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