A driver who told a parking attendant "You are nobody!" has felt the weight of Italy’s legal system, which ruled the seemingly innocuous words constituted slander—and fined him heavily. The tiff over a parking space led to Giulio C. being fined 300 euros ($370) plus 500 euros legal costs when a court in the northeast city of Trieste turned down his appeal. The court ruled the phrase "you are nobody" means precisely "you are a nonentity" and to state that a person is a nonentity is certainly offensive because it is damaging to the dignity of a person. The decision led celebrated Corriere della Sera commentator Beppe Severgnini to recall in his column that this was not the first time Italian appeal courts had deliberated on the definition of slander. Indeed, over the years a sort of "guide to legitimate offence" has been formulated and Severgnini, quoting the courts, gave a few of the more common examples. "Ball-breaker" is not slander because although "an undoubtedly rude expression it is now in common usage." "I’ll kick your arse" also passes muster* because this is a "robust reaction which should be understood in a figurative way." Under Italian law, the crime of slander is punishable by a maximum fine of 516 euros.
* pass muster: 被认为合格，被认为可以接受。

意大利司机朱利奥·C.因为车位的事情跟停车场服务员起了争执，他对后者说：“你什么也不是！” 由此领教了本国法律制度的厉害。法院裁定这句看似无伤大雅的话构成了诽谤，并对他处以重罚。意大利东北部城市的里雅斯特的一家法院驳回了他的申诉，他因此被罚款300欧元（370美元），还得支付500欧元的诉讼费用。法院认为，“你什么也不是”的意思与“你是个无名小卒”完全相同，而称他人为无名小卒的行为无疑具有侮辱性，因为这会伤害他人的尊严。这一判决勾起了《晚邮报》著名时事评论员毕普·瑟维格尼尼的回忆，他在自己的专栏中指出，意大利的申诉法院已经不是第一次就诽谤的定义进行权衡了。实际上，这些年里已经出现了某种类似“合法骂人指南”的东西。他援引意大利法院的判决举出了一些更为常见的例子。比如“混蛋”一词就不是诽谤，因为尽管它“毫无疑问是粗话，但却已经是当今社会人们的口头禅。”“去你妈的”也可以过关，原因是它只是“反映了一种强烈的情绪，不应该按字面意思来理解。”根据意大利法律，对诽谤行为的罚款最高可达516欧元。

Remarks：
昔人云: 至人无己、神人无功、圣人无名（《庄子·逍遥游》），此处却以“nobody”为毁谤，中外古今之别，于斯可见。