È TUTTO UN MAGNA-MAGNA

È tutto un magna-magna.


Last night I watched an Italian comedy that made me think about this peculiar Italian set phrase.

If translated literally, "magna magna" means "eat eat", but this wouldn't be the proper translation. When do we use this set phrase?

Italian people say "è tutto un magna-magna" when accusing the government, politicians or local administrations of not doing their job properly. Therefore, it is a way to express frustration and a bit of anger towards the institution or people we are accusing. 

Why do we say "magna"? It is a dialectal form, specifically from Lazio, of the Italian verb "mangiare" (to eat). That way, we say that politicians are deceiving the citizens by eating all their money.

Do you have a similar catchphrase in your native language? Please let me know. :)