Helga’s catchword Criminy (also used by her father), which has also been spelled crimini or crimeny, is indeed a real word . The Oxford Dictionary says it’s “a vulgar exclamation of astonishment: now somehwat archaic” and that it might be related to Italian crimine “crime”.
—used as a mild oath or to express surprise.
Most dictionaries that include it spell it criminy , though many variant forms exist, such as criminey, crimany, criminee and crimeny. These variations show that the word has usually been transmitted orally rather than in writing.
The exclamation “ crime in Italy ” is a variation of criminently, or criminy, both euphemisms for Christ.
A minced oath from “Christ’s money”, in reference to the silver that Judas was paid for betraying Jesus.
crikey in American English (ˈkraɪki ) interjection. British, Slang. used to express surprise, wonder, etc.
(US) An expression of annoyance or surprise quotations ▼
According to The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, “ hoople ” dates back to 1928 and means a fool or a dolt, while “ hoople head” dates back to 1985 and means an idiot.
According to the report, Treviso is the safest province in Italy, while Trento , Bolzano and Bologna are the most profitable cities for business and work. Parma, Siena, Trento and Piacenza have the best financial and educational services in Italy.
Italy’s Most Dangerous Cities Milan . Northern Italy’s capital of fashion is also, sadly, its capital of theft, registering something like 7800 complaints per 100,000 residents. Bologna . Sadly, the university city of Bologna also scores highly when it comes to crime. Catania . Florence . Rome .
The province with the highest crime rate is Milan . The capital city of Lombardy recorded roughly seven thousand crime cases per every 100,000 inhabitants in 2018. Especially Milan , the second largest Italian city, ranked first for theft rate and second for robbery rate.