Cosa succede quando una forza inarrestabile colpisce un oggetto irremovibile?

[details=“English Translation”]What happens when an unstoppable force hits an unmovable object?[/details] “Irremovibile” is defined in Collins as “unshakable, unyielding, adamant.” This would seem to apply to an opinion or a position, but not the quality of being fixed in one spot. I can imagine unmovable being used to describe a person, but adamant describing a thing sounds wrong. There are words in Italian that I think would be more suitable, like “immovabile.” It reminds me of the joke about the foreigner practicing his English who says, “My wife cannot have children. She is inconceivable.”

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Hi, my first reaction was to say “immovable” instead of unmovable. I hear what you’re saying:-) !

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I am not sure about the context and what is meant with an unmovable object.
Anyway, a few ideas.

Irremovibile as you point out describes mostly an attitude, but it can be also used for an object, as in un ostacolo irremovibile, i.e. something that cannot be displaced.

Immobile is something at rest, not moving.

Inamovibile is something that cannot be easily displaced, in contrast with amovibile which can be displaced. Amovibile is tricky because it seems to suggest the opposite.

Otherwise, something which can’t be moved because it is constrained is vincolato.

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Just to make it clear, although irremovibile can be used for objects, it’s not that commonly used and in the case of this phrase I think it sounds odd. But then the phrase itself is odd :laughing:

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I think this phrase has been taken from the old hit by Ella Fitzgerald “Something’s Gotta Give” - :notes:When an irresistible force such as you, meets an old immovable object like me" and so on.

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Thank you for your observations. I realize that I myself have been too “irremovible” on the topic. There is actually a Wikipedia entry called, “The irresistable force paradox.” The English word used in the entry is “immovable.” When I plugged that word into Collins, they separated the meaning into two, and specified that “irremovibile” applies to people.
“(object) non movibile
(person) irremovibile”
I guess my original concern was that a native Italian speaker would think the phrase sounded odd, and you confirmed my suspicion on that count. Thanks again.

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