Meb speaking to Baldini

According to reports his mother's native tounge is Italian, so it is very possible he would know how to say "Let's go get him" in Italian.

Or maybe he picked up Italian from when he lived in Italy for a while after his family escaped from Eritrea (before they moved to the US)?

I don't speak any Italian, and I know "avanti" means something to the effect of "let's go". Meb could have said that. Also Ethiopia/Eritrea was colonized by Italy, so it is conceivable that he speaks quite a bit.

Uh, Baldini speaks excellent English, so maybe Meb probably just said, "Let's go." In English. Just a thought.

Please keep beating up on Meb. You should be so proud of yourselves.

Meb: "Lets go get that Lima Bean"

Baldini: "Mama Mia, mee no English"

Meb: "Avanti!!! Avanti!!! that Lima Bean, comprehendo?"

All the reports say that Meb spoke to him in Italian.

Meb is practically fluent in Italian. He spent several years there as a kid.

Good thought. But whether MK knew this is, or could recall it after running 35km, is less certain

Picture Meb Keflizighi, running along...

- He is fluent in Italian

- It's a safe assumption that a guy named "Baldini" next to him is fluent in Italian

- It's less certain that Baldini is fluent in English

MIA wrote:

Please keep beating up on Meb. You should be so proud of yourselves.

it is astonishing, isn't it? i cannot believe how little love this guy is getting for a silver freaking medal...

MEB is the greatest American distance runner since Shorter. It was Kennedy now it's Meb, so we should all learn how to spell his name (me included).

And this crap about him being less American is horrible ... even if it's "true" in many people's minds. All famous American runners are immigrants, save Billy Mills. Is Kobe Bryant less American because he grew up in Italy?

Ivory Wayans wrote:

Meb: "Lets go get that Lima Bean"

Baldini: "Mama Mia, mee no English"

Meb: "Avanti!!! Avanti!!! that Lima Bean, comprehendo?"

thats some funny shit

Eritrea and Ethiopia were occupied by the Italians in the 1930s so it's very possible that he grew up in a village that had a strong Italian presence back then (and possibly still now).

There are tons of cases like this in Asian and other African countries where missionaries would settle in the 1900s and the local population would learn that language on top of their own, and it would be passed down. Not saying this is how Meb learned it, but it wouldn't surprise me if he learned it when growing up.

Sorry, I should have worded things better first time around. Guess I'm more curious than dubious about whether Meb knows Italian. The media reports could easily be inaccurate or misleading--imagine that!--and I can see a scenario where in the race Meb said something like "andiamo" or "avanti" and then he tells the press that he said "let's go get this guy" and it gets blown into him being fluent in Italian.

So does anyone here have first-hand knowledge of Meb's fluency in Italian, and can anyone explain the "part-time work at Home Depot" claim?

I read somewhere that when Meb left Eritrea, his family lived in Milan for two years prior to coming to the US.

murph butler wrote:

MIA wrote:

Please keep beating up on Meb. You should be so proud of yourselves.

it is astonishing, isn't it? i cannot believe how little love this guy is getting for a silver freaking medal...

No kidding. For years, we've bitched about how poor our distance runners do in international competition. Then two of them medal in the Olympics, and what do we do?

1. We question whether Kastor should have pushed earlier.

2. We question Meb's being a "real American" and whether he can speak Italian.

We just can't stand success, can we?

Eritrea was an Italian colony, most people there know

Italian.

Maybe Runner's World made it up. Wouldn't be the first time for demographic flavored creative license.

Meb: I have friend. Take him out. Comprendo?

Baldini: Oui Oui Oui.

Meb: All the way home.