Networks and security

The attack on this list is l’uomo nel mezzo, and the two words at the end of it open a family of fixed phrases that no dictionary entry for « middle » will hand over. Di mezzo, on its own, means caught up in something, mixed into it, in the way. Andarci di mezzo is the one to learn first, because it names the person who takes the damage without having caused it: alla fine ci va di mezzo sempre l’utente says that it is always the user who ends up paying for it, which is exactly the position the victim of this attack is in. Togliere di mezzo is to get something, or somebody, out of the way. Mettersi in mezzo is to interfere. Esserci di mezzo announces that something else is involved, as in c’è di mezzo una password rubata. And nel bel mezzo di means right in the middle of, where bel adds no beauty at all and only sharpens the aim. English reaches for a different verb in every one of these, so the family is invisible from this side and has to be learned whole.