Are you planning a trip to Italy this year? If so, here’s a friendly word of warning: if your other half does something to upset you, you might want to refrain from insulting him by telling him that he has “no balls.”

Why? Well, apparently, telling a man that he’s lacking in the ball department is now a serious offence in Italy. Nice.

The Huffington Post reports that the Italian Supreme Court has ruled that you can no longer tell a man that he has “no balls” and if you dare to utter the insult in public, you could find yourself landed with a hefty fine (talk about a kick in the you-know-whats!).

So how did this insult-banning come about? Well…it’s a long story…

Basically the Italian Supreme Court set the precedent while it was ruling on a case between two cousins. Vittorio, a lawyer, brought the case before the court after his cousin, Alberto, a justice of the peace, threw the insult around during a heated courtroom exchange between the two.

Surprisingly, the Supreme Court sided with Vittorio because  they believed that the insult (because it was said in the workplace) could have negatively affected Vittorio’s reputation.

And what is the punishment for telling a man that he has no balls? Well you will be fined, although the amount of the fine has yet to be determined by a judge (although we’re assuming that it will probably be a lot, given the awfulness of the insult like).

What do you think girls? Is it time we all started getting a bit more creative with our insults?