You must come for dinner!

I have seen it a few times in the past couple of years. Some people posted it on facebook. Some tweetted about it.

Articles were written about it.

It's the famous table to help us Europeans translate the most common phrases used by the Brits. 

It's not clear who came up with it. 

Some say it was commissioned by a Dutch company to help its employees understand the Brits and facilitate working relationships.

The first time I read it I found it quite funny. "Oh, yes that's true", I thought as I went through the list. "I have so heard that one before". "Yep that one too".

Most seemed to make sense.

If you hear a Brit say I'm sure it's my fault, they are clearly stating you are the one to blame. 

Us Italians would be a lot more direct. We would be pointing fingers without any hesitation!

If someone is a bit disappointed he's truly upset. 

If someone considers your proposal to be brave, then there is something clearly wrong with it.

However there is one expression that didn't quite make sense the first time I read the list. Or the second or the third time.

You must come for dinner.

What else could it possibly mean, other than they want to invite you for dinner??

This was until I experienced it directly.

I consider myself lucky to have met quite a few nice English people who I can call friends. This is not too common for someone living in such an international city.

We meet up quite frequently and the most usual place is the pub. That's where social interactions happen.

It's a bit different from our way to socialise in Italy which usually involves a meal either at a restaurant or at someone's place.

Several of these friends have, at different stages said the famous words "oh, you must come for dinner". We must have you over for a meal. We need to cook for you.

I can count at least 4 people.

And from some of them, the "invitation" came quite a few times.

Well invitation for me... Maybe in their mind they were just being polite? 

Is that so?

Hard to believe to be honest, given that I feel I know the people well enough that they do not need to be "polite".  

And I have also been invited by the same people to many other events. So it's not like they don't want to hang out. 

Nevertheless,  they can't escape from using this extreme expression of Britishness... Oh well you've got to love the Brits!