2024, animals, books, Mysteries, Words

Chewing on Words

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I’m still working at my Italian every day… some days more than others. Having done some Spanish and French in my youth, I love seeing some of the resemblances. Every now and then though, I get thrown for a loop. Yesterday Duolingo served up “in bocca al lupo” for “good luck”. In bocca al lupo means literally “in the mouth of the wolf”. I have actually heard the phrase “buona fortuna” in the past so finding a reference to a wolf sent me straight to the internet. Apparently In the mouth of the wolf is when something needs to be warded off… like when they say “break a leg” in the theatre. “Buona fortuna” is your basic good luck.

Thinking about this reminded me that a few months ago Duolingo let me know that “bookworm” is “topo di biblioteca” which translates to “mouse of the library”. Fascinating. In looking into that one (yes, I do check up on Duolingo occasionally), here are some others I found:

• English/Serbian/Russian/Thai – bookworm
• Italian/Romanian – library mouse
• Arabic – book moth
• Chinese – book fool
• Greek – book eater
• Danish – reading horse
• French – ink drinker

Of course the reading horse is the most intriguing (PJ, is this correct?) but I think it’s interesting that there are so many varieties. Just a side benefit to learning a new language!

If you were asked to come up with a better phrase for “bookwork”, what would you choose?

43 thoughts on “Chewing on Words”

    1. This is good music to go with this quote (which I have up in my studio)…

      “That moment when you finish a book, look around, and realize that everyone is just carrying on with their lives as though you didn’t just experience emotional trauma at the hands of a paperback.”

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    1. …but I also came across mention of “Reading Shark” and that seems more dynamic. Maybe it depends on your personal reading style.

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      1. Bookworm and the equivalents you list in the post all seem faintly pejorative and dismissive. I wonder why? Book shark is a little less so, it seems to me.

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  9. In Danish we use both bogorm (book worm) and læsehest (reading horse). I have never thought of either term as dismissive or one preferred over the other. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, I think.

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  10. Years ago, a show director gave me a thank you card for lighting the show, and he had written something along the lines of “in bocca al lupo.” I remember it had something to do with a wolf…

    Another word for bookwork? How about ‘incomplete’…

    I dont’ mind doing it, I kinda like doing it, I’m just struggling with the time to do it…

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  11. My grandfather had a very old set of Dickens’ complete works in which moths had laid eggs and actual “bookworms” chewed holes in the pages.

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    1. I can’t think of bookworms without thinking of the Thursday Next series by Jasper FForde. Lot of good bookworm discussion in those books!

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        1. His latest, Red Side Story, is out – on order at the library. It’s the next one in the ChromoWorld series.

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  12. ari had an eye opening moment a couple months ago when his mom got him okd to go to bigger kids book section of the library

    he loves books and has discovered dogboy stories and on the way home from school last week one of the kids from his bus stop noticed Ari was being quiet and Ari told him that he was reading the new book he just got from the library. The kid asked what book and Ari showed him and the kid was surprised Ari was reading the same book as he was as a 5th grader

    dog boy is not terribly challenging but he was so excited he got 4 or 5 more and burns through them pretty quick

    he is a bookworm

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