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in bocca al lupo
September 15th, 2024
In bocca al lupo = In the mouth of the wolf
It's an idiom meaning "good luck".
This is a common Italian saying wishing someone "good luck" before they do something like a job, test in school, a sporting event, etc.
It's like saying "break a leg" in English
suspected back stories:
hunting: when hunting wolves, hunters would hope that they would not end up in the mouth of the wolf
reverse pyschology: just like "break a leg", by wishing for something bad to happen, you are actually hoping for the opposite, something good. this takes care of thinking you may have jinxed someone or given them bad luck by actually wishing them good luck prematurely.
vocabulary:
- bocca : mouth
- al: a + il ( to the ) - combines the preposition 'a' (to) and the definite article before masculine singluar nouns "il" (the)
- lupo: wolf
common responses:
- "crepi il lupo" = may the wolf die
- "crepi" = may it die