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?
Trail Baboon 
Hindi: Kitabi keeda which literally translates into book insect.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Oooooh…. thank you; I didn’t see that one. WELCOME TO THE TRAIL!
LikeLiked by 2 people
O Fortuna came immediately to my mind.
LikeLiked by 2 people
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.”
LikeLiked by 3 people
I love this!
LikeLike
Love that quote!
LikeLike
Well, if we have O Fortuna, we must also visit Gopher Tune:
LikeLiked by 5 people
So funny!
LikeLiked by 1 person
O Fortuna will never be the same for me!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yep.
LikeLike
That’s hilarious. Thanks, Barb.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, so fun! Anybody remember a choir doing this at Theater la Juene Lune years ago?? It was fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved Theatre de la Jeune Lune, but I didn’t see that production.
LikeLike
I got to sing in Carmina in NE Mpls about 10 years ago; don’t think that chorus is still around, though.
LikeLike
Book Magnet?
Your mention of bookworm equivalents in various languages reminds me of Anatoly Lieberman’s Oxford Etymologist blog. It’s an endless rabbithole of conversations about word origins.
https://blog.oup.com/category/series-columns/oxford_etymologist/
LikeLiked by 3 people
This looks fascinating.
LikeLike
That’s one heckuva rabbit hole!
LikeLike
Iceland also uses Reading Horse as the preferred term.
LikeLike
…but I also came across mention of “Reading Shark” and that seems more dynamic. Maybe it depends on your personal reading style.
LikeLiked by 2 people
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.
LikeLiked by 2 people
In bocca al lupo brings to mind “cantaloupe”, the cry of the wolf, an odd name for a melon.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I like “song of the wolf” better…..sounds nicer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Electron short circuit
LikeLiked by 1 person
In Japanese it’s ‘bookbug’ (honno mushi). I hadn’t thought of that word in years!
LikeLiked by 3 people
VS – did you intend to switch to “bookwork” in that last sentence?
LikeLiked by 1 person
of course not… my fingers just like to type “work” better I guess!
LikeLiked by 1 person
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.
LikeLiked by 1 person
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…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I noticed bookworm too
i assumed it was spellchecker correction for bookworm
I hate bookworm
LikeLiked by 1 person
funny
i hate bookwork and spellchecker got me
LikeLiked by 2 people
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.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can’t think of bookworms without thinking of the Thursday Next series by Jasper FForde. Lot of good bookworm discussion in those books!
LikeLiked by 2 people
i sure enjoy him
LikeLiked by 1 person
His latest, Red Side Story, is out – on order at the library. It’s the next one in the ChromoWorld series.
LikeLike
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
LikeLiked by 3 people
As someone who devours books and any written material, I’d describe myself as a “word wolf.”
LikeLiked by 5 people
Jeg er en læsehest, men mit luftpude fartøj er ikke fyldt med ål.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll just take your word for it.
LikeLike
snort
LikeLike
I hope Wes sees my comment. Feels good to have an inside joke with someone who lives in Ohio.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do like word wolf – which Anonymous is this?
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 3 people
Trippy!
LikeLike