# Was Pinocchio a finnochio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644 "2003-07-11T04:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/1 "2003-07-11T04:07:49Z")
How did the Italians come to use their word for fennel as a derogatory term for a homosexual? I can undestand “pansy,” since flowers have been a symbol of female fertility since prehistory, but…fennel? And does finnochio rhyme with Pinocchio? I’d always assumed “Pinocchio” translated into, roughly, “little pine one.” But I can’t help wondering if more was implied, such as Geppeto as a woodcarving Pygmalion, and the actual pining was his own as he smoothed and sanded and decided which drill bit would bore the most satisfactory cul. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/2 "2003-07-11T05:24:55Z")
Well, in the original, pre-Disneyfied book, Pinocchio is a nasty, ill-tempered, selfish twit. While that might describe some folks views of “pines,” he went further, taking delight in inflicting pain and insult on everyone, including Gepetto. That connection seems pretty remote, to me. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/3 "2003-07-11T10:42:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, in the original, pre-Disneyfied book, Pinocchio is a nasty, ill-tempered, selfish twit. Yeah – you know what he does to the Cricket, his external Conscience? He squishes him! (The Cricket comes back later as a kind of ghost.) (Naming the cricket “Jiminy” was a Disney touch, "Jiminy Cricket being an American exclamation/mild oath. Probably because his initials are “JC”.) ---
**Author:** ![chattywine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@chattywine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chattywine)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/4 "2003-07-11T10:57:08Z")
Yes the two words rhyme 🙂 I’ve only heard finnochio used in the derrogative context state-side. And there is the famous (don’t know if it’s still open) club in San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/5 "2003-07-11T11:14:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Slithy Tove \* > \*\*But I can’t help wondering if more was implied, such as Geppeto as a woodcarving Pygmalion, and the actual pining was his own as he smoothed and sanded and decided which drill bit would bore the most satisfactory cul. \*\* Don’t have much to add, except to say that that’s one of the _slithiest_ sentences I’ve ever read. Definitely the work of a _tove_, what with all the gyring and gimbling. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/6 "2003-07-11T11:17:59Z")
In answer to the “Why” of the Op - why anything ? Why do English speakers called homosexuals “Faggots”? A Faggot is a piece of wood…just like Pinocchio…Hmmm…maybe you’re on to something. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/7 "2003-07-11T15:18:57Z")
The reason I have always heard is that in times when “witches” were being burned at the stake, the “pre-show” sometimes consisted of burning the local faggots, hence the phrase. I don’t have any cites, but a google for witch burn homosexual wil give you hits, I have no idea how credible they are. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pinocchio-a-finnochio/187644/8 "2003-07-11T15:27:40Z")
So, should it be pronounced “pi-nook”?