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Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??
Posted by Dave on 25/7/2001, 5:19:52
The following are actual dictionary designations for various
manner of "BIBLIO-TYPES"! Do you identify with any of these?
BIBLIOBULE - one who reads too much.
BIBLIOCLAST - one who tears pages from or otherwise destroys
BIBLIODEMON - a book fiend or demon.
BIBLIOGNOSTE - one who is knowledgeable about editions,
colophons, printers, and all the minutae of books.
BIBLIOKLEPT - one who steals books.
BIBLIOLATER - one who worships books.
BIBLIOGRAPHE - one who describes books.
BIBLIOLESTES - a book robber or plunderer.
BIBLIOMANCER - one who practices divination by books.
BIBLIOMANE - one who accumulates books indiscriminately.
BIBLIOMANIAC - a book lover gone mad.
BIBLIOPHAGE - one who eats books.
BIBLIOPHILE - one who loves books.
BIBLIOPHOBE - one who fears books.
BIBLIOPOLE - one who sells books.
BIBLIORIPTOS - one who throws books around.
BIBLIOSOPHER - one who gains wisdom from books.
BIBLIOTAPHE - one who buries or hides books.
I find that many of these terms apply to me as an avid reader and
lover of books. But I found that I needed some more terms to
adequately cover the many facets of my own particular
BIBLIOLATRY. The following are just a few terms that I've invented
to describe myself personally:
BIBLIOPRODIGAL - one who spends more money on books than he
BIBLIOJUNKIE - one who experiences physical symptoms of
withdrawal when circumstances prevent him from reading for any
BIBLIOMUTE - one who prefers to read in the presence of complete
BIBLIOBABBLIO - one who tends to inadvertently reveal the ending
of a book to someone who isn't finished reading it yet.
BIBLIOANALRETENTIVE - one who arranges books on the shelves
according to aesthetic appearance rather than by author,
alphabetical order or any other classification.
BIBLIOPRECISE - one who can still find any given volume on his
aesthetically arranged bookshelf quicker than someone else who
BIBLIOSNIFFER - one who (literally) smells books.
BIBLIOLOUNGER - one who spends inordinate amounts of time in
BIBLIOPOSSESSIVE - one who refrains from lending his books for
fear of never seeing them again.
BIBLIOPOSSESSIVE - one who doesn't return books that he's
BIBLIOSPAZ - one who sees even the most minute amounts of
unassigned time as an excuse to read.
BIBLIONEUROTIC - one who finds ways to create the above
mentioned moments and then pretends that they were born of
BIBLIOPARANOID - one who feels an inner nakedness when
realizing that he has committed himself to being anywhere on the
face of the earth and yet has forgotten to bring a book along with
him in case there is the opportunity to be a bibliospaz. (see
BIBLIORESIDENT - one whose main hesitation in moving is the
consideration of the amount of books that have to go along with
BIBLIOPRIORITIZED - one who would rather have his new car and
all of his wardrobe and furniture stolen, than to come home to
BIBLIOMORTAL - one who already regrets that he will inevitably
die before reading everything on his never-dying "to read" list.
BIBLIONOSCRIBBLIO - one who does not like to deface his books,
BIBLIOINVOLVED - one who laughs aloud when coming across a
BIBLIOSTUNNED - one who sometimes gets almost hypnotized
BIBLIOJERK - one who tends to judge anothers intellectual capacity
according to that person's library or lack thereof.
BIBLIOHUNTER - one whose visit to any foreign city is incomplete
until he has scoured as many used book stores as possible.
BIBLIOARCHITECT - one whose dream house is upheld by the
walls of built-in bookshelves, while kitchen and indoor plumbing
Perhaps some of you can also relate to one or more of these? I'd
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Posted by Lale on 25/7/2001, 12:43:28, in reply to "Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
What a delightful list. Thanks for posting it. Almost all of the ones
you invented yourself apply to me also. Including "bibliosniffer".
And, since we are amongst the likes of one another here, I will
admit to being a "bibliojerk" as well. (I am also a disciojerk, so
doubly guilty of pre-judgment.)
I would like to add these to the list:
Bibliofelineaquacombo: One who leaves a glass of water on the
bedside table (in case one gets thirsty at night) and then in the
middle of the night one's cat, trying to drink the water, spills it
over the book one has been reading before falling asleep and then
one wakes up to find her book soaked.
Bibliosomnieruditus: One who puts books under her pillow hoping
that the contents of the book will pass through the pillow to her
Bibliomaritusmadus: One who makes her husband really mad each
and every night by refusing to turn off the bedside lamp. Which
causes the husband to turn into a "biblioriptos" (see Dave's list)
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Posted by Gino Aloisius Italicus on 25/7/2001, 15:42:50, in reply to "Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
I'll try to add something to the almost complete Dave's funny
Biblioquondam = a dead (late) book
Bibliomobile = Biblioman's car
Biblioman = a superhero who loves and revenges books, (see
Bibliholocaust = a primitive pagan ritual where the whole victim
(the book in this case) is burned
in dedication to gods, not just a part of it.
Bibliopius = one who gives books a proper burial
Biblioplastic surgery = every effort in repairing books' aesthetics
Biblioaddicted = one who pulverizes books and injects them in his
Biblioadsorbens = one who pulverizes books, turns them in a
cream and spreads (smears) them on
Bibliovagus = one who goes from one book to another with no
Benevendentes = (best sellers) I know that the word means "good
Benevendentes sounds better than the proper translation
Lego ergo sum (I read and by this, I exist!) hey guys, wasn't it from
And last but not the least, a real sentence from Saint Thomas from
" I fear the man who has read just one book"
Enjoy yourself ! (reading ...naturally!)
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Posted by lale on 25/7/2001, 16:16:58, in reply to "Re: Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
I do do biblioplastic surgery. I use tape, and even stickers... I use
tipex (liquid paper)... I once even tried to gold wash the dirty
edges of the pages of a book (it was a used book, and gold
washing with a golden sparkle nail polish did not quite work).
These two seem to be much more efficient than putting the book
Bibliovagus - This happens to all of us sometimes.
I have one: Bibliometrobus - People who read on the metro and
bus (i.e. half the population of Paris)
What would you call a person who has a paperback whose front
cover has the photos of the stars of the block-buster movie (for
instance The Great Gatsby book has Robert Redford and Mia
Farrow on the cover, John Irving's The Rules of Cider House has a
photo of Michael Caine, etc.) and this person is trying to somehow
make the book a hardcover, thereby trying to cover-up the photos
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Posted by Anna van Gelderen on 25/7/2001, 17:43:06, in reply to "Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
How wonderful and comforting to know that I am not alone in my
book-idiocy. I suffer from most of your BIBLIOisms and admit to
BIBLIOPOSSESSIVE: I never ever lend any of my books to anyone; I
can't understand how other people can bear to let any of their
BIBLIOSPAZ and BIBLIONEUROTIC: I am an avid user of public
transport, practically for the sole reason that it gives me lots of
extra time to read (it follows of course that I am not seriously
BIBLIOMUTE, though I do try to block out the chatter of my fellow
passengers by a walkman playing classical music);
BIBLIOPARANOID: yes, a really bad case; I once got out of the bus
after one stop and walked back home to fetch a book when I
realized I had not brought anything to read. Last month, on a
stopover at Frankfurt airport, while flying to Mongolia (the
holiday-destination-from-hell for book lovers, but otherwise
wonderful), I panicked and bought an extra book to add to the
three fat volumes I had already managed to stuff with difficulty
into my rucksack; of course two of them came back unread, but
what if we had got stuck somewhere for days and there had been
nothing left to read? Doesn't bear thinking about.
BIBLIOJERK: I hate to admit it, because it is not a Nice Trait, but I
too judge people by their book collections; I am immediately wary
of any one who only owns a couple of measly shelves of
bestsellers - can't be much to them. Very snobbish of me.
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Posted by Dave on 26/7/2001, 3:55:42, in reply to "Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
Wow! I am pleased with some of the creative responses from you
worldwide Bibliolunatics! Excellent. Perhaps we should pool our
resources and publish a whimsical book called "BIBLIOLORE:
Terms For Every Biblioccasion!"
At any rate, I thought of a couple more today that are very much a
part of my inner Bibliospazness. Again... I ask the world of
Bibliolaters out there, have you ever been guilty of being a....
BIBLIOSANTA - one who gives books as Christmas or birthday
presents, only to find that the recipient doesn't read them anyway.
BIBLIODUPLICATE - one who buys numerous volumes of the same
favorite book so that he will acquire a variegated collection. (Is
BIBLIOSAURUS - one who often feels like a near-extinct or at least
endangered throwback of civilization, because he prefers the
printed page to all forms of electronic and otherwise new-fangled
Concerning my experiences as a Biblioduplicate, I now have 8
different versions of C.S. Lewis's novel "Till We Have Faces". The
eighth came to me at a Book Fair where I stumbled onto an
immaculate 1956 First Edition and suffered a heart attack. Which
reminds me of yet one last Biblioism...
BIBLIO-YABBADABBADOO! - a reverberating Tarzanish or
caveman-like yell emitted when a Bibliolater finds that elusive
P.S. May all she's out there forgive my use of the ubiquitous "he"
"Read in order to live," said Gustave Flaubert.
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Posted by Dave on 26/7/2001, 4:21:15, in reply to "Re: Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
I can so relate to your rucksack-full-of-books dilemna... I've
actually noticed many an airline security guard marvelling at the
overwhelming "books to clothes" ratio as he peered at my luggage
through his little radar screen! Then there's me going downtown
for the afternoon... "hmmm, I wonder if Cervantes' Don Quixote is
enough for today... no, better take The ol' Brothers Karamazov
too"... and as I am almost out the door, I toss in The Decameron
because... well, "you never know"! Right? Then I wonder why I have
a sore back when I get back home.
Ah well, if one must be afflicted with an illness...
My advice to you? DON'T get well soon!
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Posted by Gino Aloisius Italicus on 26/7/2001, 14:23:41, in reply to "Re: Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
What would you call a person who has a paperback whose front
has the photos of the stars of
the block-buster movie (for instance The Great Gatsby book has
Farrow on the cover, John Irving's The Rules of Cider House has a
etc.) and this person is trying to somehow make the book a
hardcover, thereby trying to cover-up the
photos of the actors? easy to answer: BIBLIOTEGENS approx. =
book protector (or "coverer" Bye GINO
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Posted by Gino Aloisius Italicus on 26/7/2001, 14:29:52, in reply to "Re: Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
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Posted by Lale on 27/7/2001, 11:31:11, in reply to "Re: Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
Yes! Well, first let's try to collect as many more as we can.
To secure the longevity of our bibliotypes catalog, I am going to
format them and put them under "funny stuff" where it will be safe
You know how these message boards work, after 100 or so
messages, the older postings automatically get deleted. In order
not to lose our biblio-words, I will put them in a nice table with
credits to respective contributors and once that table is under
"funny stuff" it will be for life.
Dave, you say that the initial list is "actual dictionary designations".
Can you provide more info on that? What is the source? What
should I put beside those words as source/credit?
Once the formatted table is ready, I'll post a note here.
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Posted by Lale on 27/7/2001, 13:15:19, in reply to "Re: Can you relate to any of these BIBLIO-ISMS??"
There is a word, I wish I could remember it, I had heard it in
Ottawa on the radio (CHEZ 106, I don't know if this station still
exists), it is a word for person who buys a book as a gift for
someone, but before he gives it to the intended person, he first
reads the book himself, showing extra care not to break the spine.
Also, we have to make up a word for those people who, instead of
using a bookmark, fold the pages at the corners, make a little
triangle flap to mark their position, and thus ruin the book.
Oh, we also need a word for those people who don't use
bookmarks, and memorize the page number instead.
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Posted by Lale on 7/9/2001, 15:09:59, in reply to "Can you name these?"
My daughter contributed BIBLIOFINGERLICKING (feel free to offer improved derivations of the term) for people
who lick their fingers before they turn a page.
And, I am looking for a term for this biblio-ism:
The guest you make the mistake of showing one of your precious, so-degradingly-called "coffee table books"
with beautiful photographs, who, for the obvious purpose of turning pages, grabs them with his/her palm as if
(also required, non-biblio terms 1. for people who touch your photographs anywhere other than the edges, and
2. for people who touch your computer screen to point at something)
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