Unknown word Standard May 1

[Tom44]

I was rather surprised that "fini" was accepted as a word but "finito" was not.  This might be an American slang thing.  Using finito to suggest and end or that things were done is something I have heard a lot more than fini.  Why accept one and not the other?

[Tom44]

Sorry - wrong date on other post.

[mkenuk]

It seemed very common at one time for someone to say 'finito' (having finished a piece of work, for instance) and get the reply 'benito'. Maybe it was just a fad, but I too was surprised to see it rejected.
MK

[Alan W]

I agree, Tom. Finito is used from time to time in English as a jocular way of saying "finished", as in this bit of dialogue from Lawrence Block's A Long Line of Dead Men (1994): "The painting, on the other hand, is out of my hands and out of the store. The transaction is completed. Done, finis, finito." I'll add the word.

[ensiform]

What a coincidence.  I started rereading that book for the third time just yesterday.

[Alan W]

This quote came from an online search, like almost all the quotes I use to illustrate word usage, but I am, in fact, a big fan of Lawrence Block, and I've read A Long Line of Dead Men and all his other Matt Scudder books.