A FRENCH website says of our European cover this week: "The Economist does not do half-measures in its judgment of [Silvio] Berlusconi." That judgment? We called Mr Berlusconi "The man who screwed an entire country".

But the French are in a bind translating the cover. Has Berlusconi arnaqué all of Italy? Or baisé? The former has the sense of "ripped off"; the latter, the earthier sense of "screwed". No French word carries both meanings.

Most Italian discussions of the cover translate "screwed" as fregato, fottuto or avvitato. These words weren't taught in my old Italian textbook, but fregato means "cheated", fottuto means "screwed" as in "fucked", and avvitato refers to turning a screw. Only one translation that I could find gave the other sense: l'uomo che ha preso in giro un intero paese, roughly "the man who took a whole country for a ride", with the sense of having one over on someone along with the literal meaning of giro, a ride or a tour.

There must be other languages that have a double-duty word that can translate this, but I can't think of one right now.

(Note: I've tinkered with the post as I've learned new things from our multilingual and foul-mouthed commenters. Thanks all.)