Jose Mourinho used a uniquely Roman dialect word to celebrate his appointment to the Roma bench, which confused a few non-Italian speakers.
The announcement of the former Inter coach came as a complete shock to most in Italy, as Maurizio Sarri had been repeatedly linked with the role.
In his statement on Instagram, he concluded with the phrase “Daje Roma!”
A clip went viral of Sky Sports UK presenters confusedly trying to pronounce it or work out what Daje means.
Jose Mourinho used a uniquely Roman dialect word to celebrate his appointment to the Roma bench, which confused a few non-Italian speakers.
The announcement of the former Inter coach came as a complete shock to most in Italy, as Maurizio Sarri had been repeatedly linked with the role.
In his statement on Instagram, he concluded with the phrase “Daje Roma!”
A clip went viral of Sky Sports UK presenters confusedly trying to pronounce it or work out what Daje means.
The answer is it’s pronounced Da-Yeh and is a Roman version of the common Italian word Dai, which means come on.
While most teams in Italy have ‘Forza’ before them as a default cheer, Roma is the only one to really have this specialised version, reflecting the particular way of speaking that Romans have.
While Lazio are also from Rome, the fans of that club historically tend to be from the areas outside the inner city.
It’s not just purely a football word, of course, as it reflects Roman speech patterns in the same way as their other most famous word: Ao!
This usually means hey or oi.
Using daje was Mourinho’s way of showing he speaks Italian and knows the culture, as well as the special way the citizens like to see themselves.