help me figure out my late grandpa’s threat
My grandpa passed a few years ago, and I’ve been struggling for years to figure out one specific thing he said.
For context, he was Italian, and kid-me just wrote off every phrase I didn’t understand as some Italian-American slang, like his “muppy” (mupine, or dishrag he used as a handkerchief).
But one thing he did, I, for the life of me, cannot figure out. Not by searching, not chat-gpt-ing, not asking literally my entire family and being met with a shrug:
When I was being bad, or even a little mischievous, he would shake his fist in my face and give me a playful “oo vee!” Or maybe “uvi!”
Just to get it out of the way, no, it’s not “oy vey.” No, it’s not “uffa.” It’s oo, like “too”, and vee, like “tea.” “Ew V” is the most succinct phonetically.
It could be Italian. It could be a reference to some film. I’m not sure, but you all are smarter than me at this.
This is one of my most distinct memories of my grandpa, and I really miss him a lot, so any help would be so appreciated.