With the winners of the Sanremo Music Festival still ringing in people's ears, it seems like a good time to turn the spotlight on the word tormentone (hear it pronounced here).
If it sounds like a form of torture, well, it's not far off.
The term comes from the verb tormentare ('to torment' or 'to pester') combined with the suffix ~one, which denotes large size. You can translate a tormentone literally as a 'big torment'.
What's that got to do with Sanremo? It's not a judgement on the entries' melodic qualities (or lack thereof): a tormentone is what you call a song that you hear over and over again.
Cuoricini di Coma Cose è il tormentone di Sanremo.
Cuoricini by Coma Cose is Sanremo's hit song.
Tormentone is sometimes translated as 'earworm', the slightly too literal name for a song that gets stuck in your head.
But a tormentone isn't necessarily irritatingly catchy. You just hear it over and over again. And then another few times more.
The term isn't just for songs. It also applies to anything that's repeated incessantly: for instance, a comedian's signature punchline...
Il comico diceva il suo tormentone in ogni occasione possibile.
The comedian said his catchphrase at every possible opportunity.
...or a topic that keeps coming up.
La faida tra Fedez e Tony Effe è il tormentone del momento.
The feud between Fedez and Tony Effe is the hot topic of the moment.
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