Encyclopedia suggests that “go” – Vat | you | La | Pé | SCA – it means” goes to find it; goes to guess it; goes to know it “, and therefore” who knows it! “. This phrase, very frequent in informal and family contexts, is irreverent, apparently ungrammatical, ironic and curious.
It is a clearly contracted form of the expression “go fishing“Whose etymology, according to the Italian de mauro dictionarydates back to the popular phrase “go fishing”, which literally means “go fishing“. The expression, attested around 1850, unites the imperative”go to“To the action of the fish, and it is used to express absolute ignorance regarding something. Fishing, as a random action and uncertain, represents the idea of Something that cannot be foreseen with certaintyjust as you never know what will be pulled by the river or the sea. This expression is particularly effective in communicating a sense of resignation or impossibility in finding a precise response, although the expression is used above all to indicate ignorance on something, at a more careful look it is noted that it is also used when you no longer know where something is found or someone.
An example? Let’s say that a friend has moved and do not know the new address. The sentence could be used:
“Now live in Vattelappresca”.
In the sense of “Go to where”.
Compared to many phrases of the Italian language, higher and more courtly this is certainly characterized by a lower and informal register, but maintains a certain “lyricism” and intrinsic rhetoric. As for its form, there are some variants: some dictionaries accept the “Vattelapesca” version with a single “P”, but the use with double “P” is certainly the most common and correct.
