False Friends: annoying

Welcome to the new weekly segment of the blog! Everyone knows that there are some English words that sound reassuringly similar to Italian words but have a different meaning, sometimes leading to embarrassing misunderstandings. As English and Italian have roots in common, these words probably started out with the same or similar meanings but evolved over time as they moved from one place to another, as all languages tend to do. Today’s word is “annoying”. This does not mean “noioso” as you might think, but “irritante”. It is annoying if your boss schedules a boring meeting at 5 pm on a Friday, when you just want to go home and start your weekend.