“Crianza” in Neapolitan means “having a good education”, but not that education that University or school gives you, it is an education that comes from your family and perhaps from your genetics.
A person who has no crianza in Naples is a heartless person. “Crianza” comes from the portuguese word criançaand in this language it is something that has to do with children and their behavior. So we can say that the Neapolitan has taken the innermost meaning of this word to transform, once again, the meaning of its communication. Because if we want to create a cultural link between the Portuguese word and the Neapolitan one, we could say that the crianza is something that is born inside you when you are still a child and if it does not stick in your soul when you are not yet an adult, it is likely that it will never knock at your door.
In Napoli we use to say: “Avere ‘na bona crianza” (having a good crianza), because in the world there are also people who do not have a good crianza, but a bad one. Saying “have a good crianza” is also a wish that one person gives to another who is in difficulty. It is a way to wish him good luck.
As we have already said, crianza is not something that can be bought but certainly can be learned. Those who “nun tenene crianza” (have no goodness) are on the fringes of conscience and usually behave in the wrong way. The underworld, the fraudulent, the profiteers who think only with
selfishness and do not commit themselves to the community. Hence, crianza becomes not only a type of soul but, above all, an attitude that determines our way of life.
What can we do to live according to the laws of crianza? We can act with charity, helping the weakest and those in economic difficulty. But even a small gesture, the simplest one can be understood as a gesture of “good manners”.
Finally, this word enters the head of a Neapolitan since he was a child because it is also pronounced at the table. It is known that the Neapolitan mothers and grandmothers (but basically all the mothers in the world) demand that their little ones eat everything that is brought to the table.When you just can’t finish your whole meal and leave a small bite on your plate, here in Naples, your grandmother or your mother will criticize you in front of everyone saying: “You left on your plate ‘o muorzo d’ ‘a crianza” (you left the bite of the crianza on your plate). A truly ironic and contemptuous way to criticize you who have not been able to appreciate the gift of food and those who, having everything they need, are not used in life to give to those who is in trouble, leaving the poorest a little bite of something that does not help them.
From the meaning of the phrase ” ‘o muorzo d’ ‘a crianza” we can also understand how the Neapolitan is a language of strong social denunciation, able to ironize even on the simplest things, simultaneously educating the interlocutor.
Neapolitan Dialect Of The World 