I reread Chapter 3 last night and I noticed that footnote 31 is the first time Zampano refers to himself or his namesake within his own footnotes. In his own font, no less.

"Zampano. This chapter first appeared in "The Matter of Why" ". (Paraphrasing for simplicity)

But I don't entirely understand it, because unless "chapter" refers to a certain section of Chapter 3, then it appears Zampano lifted that whole chapter from elsewhere.

Or he's using the German "Zampano", which refers to how the main character of a film named La Strada acted. If this is the case, he might be calling himself out. The Italian "Zampano" means "to paw", though I don't know how that fits with the rest of the footnote.

Or, Johnny's responsible. In the previous chapter, Johnny admits to inserting words into Zampano's narrative, making the rest of the book suspect. Since it isn't in Johnny or Editor's font, it can't be a correction, but it could easily have been inserted into the narrative. Depending on how you see it, Pelafina could have been involved with footnote 31 in some capacity too.

Do y'all have any insight into this footnote?