Italians

A European ethnicity that is distinctly Mediterranean and therefore carries a phenotype similar to people from Spain, Greece, the Middle East, and northern Africa. This means that Italians can blend in a lot of places. Oddly enough, I noticed that many Italians have one eyebrow straighter (on the left) while the other is curved and sits lower down (on the right). Italians are generally considered attractive, although it is easy for us to get ugly with our hairy tendencies. People are usually on the short side (women 5'2"-5'6", men 5'8"-6'0"), although they were much shorter during the Roman times. According to a tour guide at the Flavian Ampitheater at Pozzuoli, a 5'5" man would be considered very tall and gladiator material. Northern and southern Italians tend to have distinctly different norms of appearance. Lighter skin, eyes, and hair are common in the north (think auburn hair with hazel eyes). Black hair, dark brown (or blue!) eyes, and midtone olive skin are common for the south. Southerners are generally shorter than their fellow northern countrymen. More on the Mediterranean people: search for "gracile mediterranid" for anthropological concepts specific to Italy.

Personality, behavior, and levels of maturity are relevant only on an individual basis and are separate from ethnicity.

Italians at first glance are commonly mistaken for:
•Iranians (especially in California)
•Greeks
•Armenians
•Hispanics

People all over the world love Italian culture but have no idea what Italians actually look like.

~Hispanic is not always the right answer~

Chuchi

Noun, pronounced "chuh-chee."
The slang chuchi is from southern Italy. My mom said that her grandparents (immigrants from Campania) used this term, but she never knew what it meant. It basically means the same thing as cutie, but is used for pets and very young children. It is not meant as a romantic term. From experience, cats really like when you call them chuchi just by how it sounds phonetically.

Tell a cat while you pet it, "You're a good chuchi!"

Call to something/someone cute, "Come 'ere chuch."

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