I Mixed It Upp - Blog Posts

public service announcement for all skk and skk-adjacent writers out there:

it may be very tempting to go from Dazai calling Chuuya "petit mafia" (like some translations I can't find right now do) to an endearing pet name like using the French possessive form and get "mon petit mafia". HOWEVER, that string of words makes absolutely no sense in French:

The word "mafia" is feminine, so it should be "ma petite mafia" (my little mafia [organization])

"mafia" only refers to the group/organization, so unless you want Dazai to refer to Chuuya as his own mafia (which you could), the French translation of "mafioso" is "mafieux" (masc) or "mafieuse" (fem), for "mon petit mafieux" (my little mafioso), but you could also use mafioso as-is as the original Italian word.

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