Anti-Roman quip goes down badly in Rome

ROME, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A leader in Italy's Northern League has angered the mayor of Rome by joking that the city's ancient acronym, PQR, means "Roman people are pigs."

The letters stand for Senatus Populusque Romanus and date back more than 2,000 years to the Roman Republic.

Umberto Bossi, during an appearance Monday at a Miss Padania beauty contest, said the initials stand for "Sono Porci Questi Romani," the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Roman Mayor Gianni Alemanno, a member of the league's center-right ally, the People of Freedom Party, said the joke was "beyond the pale." He also called it unoriginal, cribbed from the French Asterix comics about a plucky Gaul resisting the Roman empire.

"Not only has he insulted the Rome of today but also that of the past, dusting off a hackneyed old joke from a comic book," Alemanno said.

Politicians from across the political spectrum condemned Bossi, although some on the right suggested too much was being made of a casual remark.

Francesco Totti, the captain of Rome's soccer team, challenged Bossi to repeat the remark in the Colosseum, where gladiators once battled to the death, The Daily Telegraph reported.