In honor of Donald Duck’s 90th birthday, I’m going to explain how I learned that Italians are obsessed with him and don’t give a shit about Mickey Mouse, and it’s going to be a thread 🧵:
So my husband is Italian and the last time we were visiting his family in Italy I noticed that Donald Duck was EVERYWHERE. He was in ads, on day care centers, in toy store windows. And Mickey was nowhere to be seen.
This was very odd to me bc obviously in the US Mickey Mouse (who they call Topolino) is the star of the show and Donald (who they call Paperino) is a secondary, if not tertiary, character. But no. In Italy, Donald is King.
When I used my very limited Italian to ask ppl about this, everyone genuinely seemed to feel it was a valid question but no one knew the answer. Like no one thought it was weird that I was asking why Paperino is so popular
Even my father in law who is generally a no nonsense kind of guy seemed to think it was a valid Q. IIRC I think his answer was something like, “Donald Duck is funny and doesn’t wear pants; and Mickey is not funny and wears pants” QED Paperino > Topolino
The other thing I thought was very odd is that “Topolino” directly translates to “little mouse,” which makes sense bc that’s what Mickey Mouse is! But “Paperino” isn’t Italian for “duck” — that word is l’anatra. If you Google “Paperino” the direct translation is… “Donald Duck.”
So I asked my husbands cousin (my go-to about all Italian things) and I would not say his explanation clarified anything
So basically Donald Duck in Italy is not a duck, but a baby goose with a child bride, who is also a baby goose, even tho they both have all the characteristics of ducks, including quacking
This is also his explanation for why the Italians prefer Donald Duck to Mickey Mouse which I guess would make a lot more sense were it not a country with a deep rooted history of fascism
Anyway I did a little research and I guess Donald Duck is more of a Thing in Europe generally because he became really popular in the comics during WW II but that doesn’t really explain why he continues to be hugely popular to this day, or why he is a baby goose w a wife
Also apparently in Italy Goofy’s real name is Phillip
He also fuckin looks like this and they call A Goofy Movie “A Voyage With Phillip”
UPDATE: apparently Donald Duck’s full Christian name in Italian is Paulino Paperino, aka Little Paul Gosling
@rebeccaaweber
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