Context

This famous salutation is spoken by Guido, played by Roberto Benigni, in Life is Beautiful (directed by Roberto Benigni, 1997).

Despite what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, wants you to think, the Holocaust happened.

Thrown into a concentration camp with his wife and son, Guido—Roberto Benigni as a man in striped pajamas—does his best to shield his child from the horrors. How? By turning everything into a game and finding happiness wherever he can.

When he finds an abandoned radio, he uses it to send a message of joy to his wife elsewhere in the game, opening it with the bubbly, "buongiorno, principessa!" or, in English, "Good morning, princess!" It brings a much needed smile to her face. 

And Benigni's delivery? It's "buongiorno!"

Where you've heard it

You might remember Benigni from back when the Oscars were over four hours long and people actually watched them. After being announced as the winner of Best Foreign Language film by the ageless Sofia Loren, Benigni climbed over chairs (narrowly avoiding Emma Thompson) to get to the stage.

P.S. A song from the Life is Beautiful score is titled "Buongiorno, Principessa!"

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If there were a zero, that's where we'd put this one.