Beatles or Beetles?

Since I’ve been living in Italy I’ve been hearing Italian journalists talk about The Beatles. Nothing wrong with that as most of the world still talks about them (my all-time favourite band before AC/DC and the Rolling Stones), especially lately with Paul’s separation from his wife Heather. What’s funny—given that Italians speak on average English so badly—is that they keep referring to the “Fab Four” as the “Quattro Scarafaggi”. Scarafaggio in English translates to “Beetle”. What must have happened 40 years ago is that some stupid journalist who thought he/she knew English translated the word “Beatles” into “Scarafaggi”. He/she probably didn’t consult a dictionary to see that the insect is written with two “ee”s and not with “ea”. What had happened was that Lennon, when he was fishing around for a name for his band, admired Buddy Holley and the Crickets. He wanted to render them homage. So he took the word “Beetle” and transformed it into “Beatle”, taking the word “Beat” which is the base to all music (in fact, what a drummer is is nothing more than the keeper of the beat). As we all know in English, the word “Beatle” doesn’t exist, that is, it’s not an insect. The Italians though some 40 year ago still don’t know that little detail…