A O!

Hey! That's what "a o" means in Rome. Pronounced "ah ohhhhh," it's used to get someone's attention, whether it's vendors trying to sell you their stuff or that the cooks need something in the kitchen.

Rome, like every big city, has its own form of gab. "Beh" -- so what?

In the kitchen, they call me " a signora," (ah see-nyo-rah). 

In fact, as in the movie "Logan's Run" where a lighted signal in the palms of  a fictional, future-city's dwellers.  When the city folk turn 30, they must die to keep the population numbers under control. In Italy every woman over 30 goes from signorina (miss) to signora (ma'am) at mach speed (men aren't "mister" until 50, or so the kitchen folk tell me). 

But, instead of "signora," Romans shorten the term or respect to "a signo'," (ah-see-nyo), dropping the "ra" at the end of the word. I only found out recently what these guys were actually saying and for whom it was intended. I didn't realize that every time they yelled out "a signo" they were talking to me -- getting my attention, asking me to move to reach into the fridge and pull out some proscuitto. 

Now we all say "a signo'" every few minutes -- yelling it out really. It's our own private joke.