She led him to a bakery selling fresh lobiani (bean bread). An old man bit into a hot one, burned his tongue, and yelled:
Tiko grinned. “Yes. But in Georgian, mama means , not mother! And mia means ‘there it is’ or ‘here you go.’ So he literally shouted: ‘Father, there it is!’ — like ‘Oh my gosh!’” mama mia qartulad
— Deda ginat!
Tiko was a young tour guide in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. She loved leading groups through the old town’s winding streets, past balconies with grapevines, and down to the sulfur baths. But one morning, an Italian tourist named Enzo asked her a question that stopped her in her tracks. She led him to a bakery selling fresh lobiani (bean bread)
Tiko smiled. “You know,” she said, “in Georgian, we don’t say Mama mia . But we have something very similar.” But in Georgian, mama means , not mother
Enzo burst out laughing. “So in Italian, Mama mia is ‘my mother.’ In Georgian, Mama mia is ‘father, there it is’ — but they both mean the same exclamation of surprise!”