La-la land?
Garry J. Vass
this merger. If the companies aren't thinking of an exit strategy,
they are in la-la land.''
-- Scott Cleland, chief executive officer of the Precursor
Group, a Washington investment research firm, about EchoStar
Communications Corp. looking for a way out of its $23 billion
agreement to buy satellite TV rival Hughes Electronics Corp.
La-la land. It means living in fantasy. How did this come to be? Didn't
it originally refer to Los Angeles in a nonpejorative way?
Mark Harris
"Garry J. Vass" <ga...@totally-official.com> wrote in message
news:aqp6og$bs96r$2...@ID-134717.news.dfncis.de...
(1933) by James Hilton?
Mark in Portland, OR
Pat Durkin
"Garry J. Vass" <ga...@totally-official.com> wrote in message
news:aqp6og$bs96r$2...@ID-134717.news.dfncis.de...
I think of it as pejorative. It is a play on words (LA or ellay is the
abbreviation for Los Angeles), somewhere in the middle of which is
Hollywood, where dreams are manufactured and all too often taken as real. I
wouldn't disagree with Mark's reference to Shangri La, either.
The expression has been taken into the political arena as well, referring to
unrealistic plans and ideologies. "Voodoo economics", said Bush 41 of
Reagan's ideas, (unless I err in my attributions), which was another way of
saying that Reagan's ideas came from la-la-land. After all, that was where
Reagan asked for "one more for the Gypper". And that other famous
political comment, "Where's the beef?" hinted again at unrealizable goals.
Murray Arnow
>
>La-la land. It means living in fantasy. How did this come to be? Didn't
>it originally refer to Los Angeles in a nonpejorative way?
>
I never heard it refer to LA nonpejoratively. My first hearing of LA as
la-la-land was around 1980, and it was definitely derogatory.
Gwen Lenker
I'd always thought the phrase's evolution was exactly the opposite --
at first with the "fantasy world" meaning, later applied to Los
Angeles as a term of derision by San Francisco Chronicle columnist
Herb Caen(and others?), and still later adopted by Angelenos
themselves (with a boost from L. A. Times columnist Jack Smith) as an
exuberant nickname for their city.
Mark Barratt
<ga...@totally-official.com> wrote:
Isn't La-la one of the Teletubbies? Where's the Bun when we need her?
I would have expected "...in Never-never land", but then that's from a
right-pondian perspective.
Apteryx
news:aqp6og$bs96r$2...@ID-134717.news.dfncis.de...
I heard of La-la land in that sense (or in the sense of someone concussed -
I can remember my father using it of a rugby player needing assistance off
the field after a tackle, and also needing assistance to show him which way
off the field was) in the 1950's, long before I ever heard it applied to Los
Angeles (and also as far back as my memory goes). I always thought that its
use as (an entirely perjorative) reference to Los Angeles derived from it.
My own (wild) conjecture of it's origin is "dolally" (crazy), which
http://www.dictionary.com/ doesn't list with that spelling, but which
according to http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/161900.html relates to the
Deolali sanatorium, India
--
Apteryx
"Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own.
You may both be wrong." Dandemis
Irwell
>The expression has been taken into the political arena as well, referring to
>unrealistic plans and ideologies. "Voodoo economics", said Bush 41 of
>Reagan's ideas, (unless I err in my attributions), which was another way of
>saying that Reagan's ideas came from la-la-land. After all, that was where
>Reagan asked for "one more for the Gypper". And that other famous
>political comment, "Where's the beef?" hinted again at unrealizable goals.
>
Mondale was the one using the "Where's the beef?" question.
I think it may have been Wendy's slogan at that tuime.
Ben Zimmer
That date's about right: first cite in Lexis-Nexis is from the Nov. 8,
1979 Washington Post (an article about SNL writer Michael O'Donoghue
going to Hollywood: "But now, it's off to La-La land, and his movie
deal."). The phrase was further popularized by L.A. crime fiction
writer Robert Campbell, author of "In La-La Land We Trust" (1986),
"Alice in La-La Land" (1987), and "Sweet La-La Land" (1990).
Earliest non-L.A. usage is a Feb. 21, 1986 New York Times article about
a hockey game (featuring an amazing assist from NY Rangers player Pierre
Larouche): "Larouche had a difficult time explaining just what he had
done. 'You lose it at times like that,' he said. 'I was in la-la land.'"
"Living in la-la land" first appears in 1987.
Raymond S. Wise
"Pat Durkin" <p...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ut0b54k...@corp.supernews.com...
"Win one for the Gipper," with a hard g, not "Gypper," which would be
pronounced with a soft g. "The Gipper" was the nickname for a Notre Dame
football player, George Gipp. In the famous speech made by coach Knute
Rockne, from which this expression comes, it was actually "win just one for
the Gipper," and was part of a longer sentence, not a sentence all by
itself.
See home.no.net/birgerro/gippwin.htm for more on that story.
It came to be associated with Ronald Reagan because when he was an actor he
played George Gipp in the 1940 movie *Knute Rockne All American.*
(It looks like there should be some punctuation in that movie title, but the
Internet Movie Database doesn't have any, and a Google search turns up
examples with no punctuation, with a comma, and with a hyphen.)
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com
Mark Brader
> It came to be associated with Ronald Reagan because when he was an actor he
> played George Gipp in the 1940 movie *Knute Rockne All American.*
>
> (It looks like there should be some punctuation in that movie title, but
> the Internet Movie Database doesn't have any, and a Google search turns
> up examples with no punctuation, with a comma, and with a hyphen.)
Leonard Maltin's guidebook, like the IMDB, has the policy of listing the
title as it is shown onscreen, and in the 2001 edition it has the comma.
I suspect the explanation is the fact that the "displayed" rendering of
a title, as seen at the start of a movie or on the cover or title page
of a book, follows different punctuation conventions than the same title
written inline, as in the middle of a sentence. The major difference is
that if the title falls into two or three parts, such as a main title and
subtitle, in the displayed form they are usually distinguished by typo-
graphical style but not separated by punctuation. For example, a title
might be displayed as:
K N U T E R O C K N E
All American
where my letterspacing indicates that the first line is actually in much
larger type as well as in block capitals. (Hmm, for once a posting where
using HTML might actually be beneficial...) But when the same title is
rendered "inline", not only is the capitalization restored to normal, but
subtitle is normally set off by a colon: "Knute Rockne: All American".
Titles in three parts are rarer, but commonly occur with series movies.
The IMDB writes "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi" with one
colon and one dash; I'm reasonably sure that neither punctuation mark
appears onscreen. Maltin gives it without punctuation after "Wars" and
with a colon after "VI".
Less frequently, the displayed rendering of a title will omit commas
that would come at the end of a line. It might look like this:
KNUTE ROCKNE
ALL AMERICAN
But you are supposed to read it as "Knute Rockne, All American", and
if writing the title inline, you would use the comma. Or, at least,
*I* would use a comma, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some people
taking the implied punctuation to be a dash. And a colon is also
possible if the second line is viewed as a subtitle.
It's been many years since I saw this movie, but from what Raymond says,
I think it's very likely that the title is displayed in a form similar
to that last example.
--
Mark Brader "You mean he made love to you?"
Toronto "Well, he went through all the emotions."
m...@vex.net -- EVERY DAY'S A HOLIDAY
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Steve Howarth
"Garry J. Vass" <ga...@totally-official.com> wrote in message
news:aqp6og$bs96r$2...@ID-134717.news.dfncis.de...
truth or reality, I mean) will cover their ears and sing la-la-la etc. to
drown out the other person's voice?
--
Steve Howarth
Tony Cooper
I will top-post for a change since snipping would dilute the reason
for reply, and there's no need to read all if not needed:
HTML would, indeed, be helpful for your answer. See
http://home.no.net/birgerro/allamer1.htm
to see how the movie was shown.
Reply top posted. Go back.
Headline from the Orlando Sentinel on November 6th:
"Election Day nearly glitch-free"
Nearly is dearly close to us.
Tony Cooper aka tony_co...@yahoo.com
Mark Brader
> HTML would, indeed, be helpful for your answer. See
> http://home.no.net/birgerro/allamer1.htm
> to see how the movie was shown.
I don't see any evidence on the page as to that.
What it shows is two "covers" for the movie. The first one appears from
its shape to be from a videocassette box; the second one is in an older
style and looks as though it might actually be a reproduction of an
original poster for the movie. (There is what also a link labeled as
being to a poster, but it doesn't work.) And the two "covers" show the
title punctuated differently.
--
Mark Brader "Well, it's not in MY interest -- and I represent
Toronto the public, so it's not in the public interest!"
m...@vex.net -- Jim Hacker, "Yes, Minister" (Lynn & Jay)
Tony Cooper
>Tony Cooper writes:
>> HTML would, indeed, be helpful for your answer. See
>> http://home.no.net/birgerro/allamer1.htm
>> to see how the movie was shown.
>
>I don't see any evidence on the page as to that.
Hey, I wasn't offering "evidence". Just hear-say testimony,
counselor. Objection sustained.
>
>What it shows is two "covers" for the movie. The first one appears from
>its shape to be from a videocassette box; the second one is in an older
>style and looks as though it might actually be a reproduction of an
>original poster for the movie. (There is what also a link labeled as
>being to a poster, but it doesn't work.) And the two "covers" show the
>title punctuated differently.
The two punctuations were part of the reason for offering the site.
Did you notice the bit about "In Glorious Black & White"?
Obesity Kills. Force restaurants to serve only salads.
Tony Cooper aka tony_co...@yahoo.com
Cissy . Thorpe
>> La-la land. It means living in fantasy. How did this come to be? Didn't
>> it originally refer to Los Angeles in a nonpejorative way?
According to DH, la-la land comes from the "Irish" words to a lullaby.
When mommas sang to babies to sleep, they often just sang "la, la, la" as
the little one drifted off to sleep.
Cissy
Garry J. Vass
news:3dd024c2...@news.cis.dfn.de...
Does anyone refer to it as LAX?
That moniker was common when I worked at Columbia Pictures, but that was in
the early 80's...
And just for the record, I think that LA is wayKewl
Kind regards,
GJV
Tony Cooper
>Does anyone refer to it as LAX?
>
>That moniker was common when I worked at Columbia Pictures, but that was in
>the early 80's...
Pilots and travel agents do. That's the code for airport.
One week post-election, and no voting scandals.
Where is the Florida I know and love?
Tony Cooper aka: tony_co...@yahoo.com
N.Mitchum
----
> later adopted by Angelenos
> > themselves (with a boost from L. A. Times columnist Jack Smith) as an
> > exuberant nickname for their city.
>
> Does anyone refer to it as LAX?
"LAX" is the letter code for L.A. International airport. I've
never heard it used to mean Los Angeles city.
----NM
Irwell
I was on aflight that was landing at LAX, the pilot said
"We are now landing at Los Angeles International,
the centre of the universe".
The trouble with that statement is that Salvador Dali
had claimed Perpignan railway station as the
centre of the Universe, years earlier.
Tony Cooper
>>----
>>never heard it used to mean Los Angeles city.
>>
and not the city. However, many people might say they're flying into
LAX with the meaning that they are flying into Los Angeles. I
wouldn't expect anyone at all, though, to say they are driving into
LAX or taking the bus or train to LAX.
N.Mitchum
-----
> I was on aflight that was landing at LAX, the pilot said
> "We are now landing at Los Angeles International,
> the centre of the universe".
> The trouble with that statement is that Salvador Dali
> had claimed Perpignan railway station as the
> centre of the Universe, years earlier.
You misunderstood. The French train station was the "centre,"
whereas LAX was the "center." Given that distinction, all becomes
clear.
----NM
Steve Howarth
"N.Mitchum" <aj...@lafn.org> wrote in message news:3DD5FC...@lafn.org...
I caught the train from Perpignan station last year, and couldn't see what
the fuss was about. Centre of the universe, mon cul, as the French might
say.
--
Steve Howarth
Irwell
In Perpignan railway station I asked for a small black
coffe in my fractured French, everyone burst out laughing.
Apparently 'petite noire' must mean something else.
Perpignan is,of course in Catalonia, old Salvador
was odd anyway.