Talk:Pulcinella

Opinions vs. Citations Needed?
There are several instances where it appears the page author(s) are stating opinions as opposed to facts. However, there are also many instances of the author(s) stating what appear to be factual claims that simply lack citations. This really complicates the issue.

I'm less familiar with the literary character, more familiar with the cultural aspect. Thus, in this situation I'm not comfortable deleting what appear to be opinion statements (since it's just my opinion that they seem like opinions). For now I've noted these as "citation needed", pending clarification. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Betsy Rogers (talk • contribs) 01:43, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 14 January 2020 and 29 April 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jmquillen.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 02:52, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): RachelAStaton.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 07:29, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

fishy chicken

 * His main characteristic, from which he acquired his name, is his extremely long nose, which resembles a beak. In Latin, this was a pullus gallinaceus, which led to the word "Pulliciniello" and "Pulcinella", related to the Italian pulcino or chick.

My Latin dictionary says pullus means 'a young animal', not a beak. I would change the paragraph to:


 * His name, from Italian pulcino ('chick'), refers to his distinguishing feature: a long beaklike nose.

The –ella is a common diminutive suffix, not likely a contraction of gallinaceus. The Latin phrase is unlikely to be relevant here, in my amateur judgement. —Tamfang (talk) 07:25, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

should one ask?
How is Open secret relevant here? —Tamfang (talk) 05:55, 11 May 2011 (UTC)


 * the french term for open secret (or stage whisper, btw) is "secret of polichinelle" ("pulcinella's secret"). and perhaps some other langs (spanish? italian? latin?) have a similar idiom.  so that's why it's HERE.


 * why the heck that is the idiom in the FIRST PLACE, however, is beyond me! nothing on this page implies he had a secret identity or a double life or anything like that.  some dicts translate polichinelle/pulcinella as generic "marionette" -- are marionettes (or puppets in general) known for breaking the 4th wall and explaining the plot or something? 66.105.218.33 (talk) 03:43, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Ah. So rather than merely linking to Open secret (which in English gives no hint of a reason for the link), mention somewhere in the text that the term exists in French, Italian, Polish and Russian (see the Languages column of that article!). —Tamfang (talk) 03:46, 11 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, I wasn't the one who put that in the article in the first place, tho. Just answering your q, as I had recently learned the above.


 * Hey, afterthought, rather than Pulcinella (or marionettes/puppets in general) known for breaking the 4th wall, are they perhaps known for not being able to KEEP a secret? Maybe it all derives from some view of Pulcinella being a blabbermouth?


 * Just a thought. 216.50.220.10 (talk) 07:40, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Miscellanea: is it necessary to cite Mordini?
It feels like it should be sufficient to say something like 'In various European languages (...), the term "Pulcinella's secret" or a "Polichinelo's secret" is used to refer to an open secret.' I'm not sure what value the additional analysis adds to this page, since it's just a generic discussion of open secrets citing an Italian philosopher. Barzamin (talk) 20:03, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

"pickin's secret"
Is this a real saying in English? I'm a native speaker of U.S. English and have never heard of it. A Google search only brings up websites that cut and pasted it from this Wikipedia entry.

The paragraph where the "pickin's" phrase is found appears to have originally been lifted directly from the Italian wiki page (https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcinella) by user Mister Vincenzo on 11 February 2023. In the original Italian, the text is "segreto di pulcinella." I have therefore changed the English text to reflect this and deleted the "pickin's" wording.

I'm adding this question and explanation just in case I'm mistaken. If someone has a source for this phrase in English, please feel free to revert my edit. 2600:100A:B1E3:725:0:1A:3DAC:8D01 (talk) 19:23, 1 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Update to the above: I ran the original Italian paragraph through Google Translate. It translated "segreto di pulcinella" once as "pickin's secret" and once as "picnic secret" — so almost definitely an error introduced by user Mister Vincenzo, caused by over-reliance on Google Translate. Unfortunately this mistake appears to have been copied by several online bilingual dictionaries. 2600:100A:B1E3:725:0:1A:3DAC:8D01 (talk) 20:55, 1 July 2023 (UTC)