supercalifragilisticexpialidocious origin?
75114...@compuserve.com
If this is in the FAQ, I apologize...but Dejanews didn't have a faq
listed for this NG. IAC, is there an accepted answer to the question:
What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
As close as I can find, it originated as a song title in 1949. Is there a
better answer?
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Donna Richoux
David Carson <da...@neosoft.com.spamfilter> wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
>
> >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
> >
> >As close as I can find, it originated as a song title in 1949. Is there a
> >better answer?
>
> It is a song title from the movie, "Mary Poppins." 1949 sounds about right.
1949?? The movie came out in the mid-1960's. Could that song have have
sat in the songwriters' trunk for almost twenty years?
Best wishes --- Donna Richoux
Gali Nachman
On Fri, 28 Mar 1997, David Carson wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
>
> >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
> >
> >As close as I can find, it originated as a song title in 1949. Is there a
> >better answer?
>
> It is a song title from the movie, "Mary Poppins." 1949 sounds about right.
>
> David Carson
ASAIK, "Mary Poppins" is from 1964. I am very curious to know, then,
whether "supercalifr..." is indeed a song from 1949. Any input?
--
Gali
Tel Aviv, Israel
Bruce Tindall
Gali Nachman <nac...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il> wrote:
>
>ASAIK, "Mary Poppins" is from 1964. I am very curious to know, then,
>whether "supercalifr..." is indeed a song from 1949. Any input?
>
Yes, "Mary Poppins" is 1964, but there was another song published in
either 1949 or 1951 entitled "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus."
The composers of this song sued Walt Disney Productions and Julie
Andrews when the movie with the similar song appeared. One of the
plaintiffs, Barney Young, claimed to have invented the word when
he was a child in 1921. The plaintiffs lost the lawsuit, because
the judge found that the word had entered the public domain by
the time the firt of the songs had been published.
Sorry I don't have the citation of the case at hand, but if anyone
really really needs it, I can look it up.
--
Bruce Tindall tin...@panix.com
The FAQ and archive of alt.folklore.urban are
located at http://www.urbanlegends.com
Truly Donovan
David Carson wrote:
>
> On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
>
> >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
> >
> >As close as I can find, it originated as a song title in 1949. Is there a
> >better answer?
>
> It is a song title from the movie, "Mary Poppins." 1949 sounds about right.
1949 doesn't sound right to me. Julie Andrews is older than I am, but
not *that* much older, and I was 10 in 1949. And the movie was made
after *My Fair Lady* opened on Broadway, which was roughly mid-fifties.
--
Truly Donovan
"Industrial-strength SGML," Prentice Hall 1996
ISBN 0-13-216243-1
http://www.prenhall.com
Mark Brader
>>> What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
I reproduce part of the entry from the Supplement to the OED (1986).
# su:percalifra:gilistic:expialido.cious, a.
# Also supercalifragilistic; formerly also other varr. [Fanciful: cf.
# *SUPER a. 3.] A nonsense-word used esp. by children, now chiefly
# expressing excited approbation: fantastic, fabulous.
#
# Made popular by the Walt Disney film 'Mary Poppins' in 1964. The song
# containing the word was the subject of a copyright infringement suit
# brought in 1965 against the makers of the film by Life Music Co. and
# two songwriters: cf. quots. 1949, 1951. In view of earlier oral uses
# of the word sworn to in affidavits and dissimilarity between the songs
# the judge ruled against the plaintiffs.
#
# 1949 Parker & Young (unpublished song title) Supercalafajalistickes-
# pialadojus.
#
# 1951 -- (unpublished song title) Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus;
# or, The super song.
#
# 1964 R.M. & R.B. Sherman (song title) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
#
# 1967 _Decisions U.S. Courts involving Copyright 1965-66_ 488 The
# complaint alleges copyright infringement of plaintiff's song
# '_Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus_' by defendant's song
# '_Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious_'. (All variants of this
# tongue twister will hereinafter be referred to collectively as
# 'the word'.)
So its origins are "fanciful", its first known appearance in writing was
in 1949 but it was used orally before that, and the function of "Mary
Poppins" was to make it popular (and, it seems, to freeze the spelling).
--
Mark Brader "... there is no such word as 'impossible' in
m...@sq.com my dictionary. In fact, everything between
SoftQuad Inc. 'herring' and 'marmalade' appears to be missing."
Toronto -- Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Colin Fine
In article <1997Mar31.0...@sq.com>, Mark Brader <m...@sq.com>
writes
1996? Jordin Kare & Bill Higgins:
"SuperCometFragmentImpactExtraLargeExplosion"
As sung by the N-Early Music Group at Intervention, the British National
Science Fiction Convention, Liverpool, on 30 March 1997.
Hem hem.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Colin Fine 66 High Ash, Shipley, W Yorks. BD18 1NE, UK |
| Tel: 01274 592696/0976 436109 e-mail: co...@kindness.demon.co.uk |
| "Creative people love acknowledgement. |
| But they seldom manage to accept it." -K.B.Brown |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
nickey davies
In article <xchLlfAk...@kindness.demon.co.uk>,
co...@kindness.demon.co.uk (Colin Fine) wrote:
> 1996? Jordin Kare & Bill Higgins:
> "SuperCometFragmentImpactExtraLargeExplosion"
> As sung by the N-Early Music Group at Intervention, the British National
> Science Fiction Convention, Liverpool, on 30 March 1997.
Don't know when - headline in a Scottish newspaper following a soccer
match between Caledonian and Airdrie:
Super Calie fabulistic, Airdrie are atrocious
> Hem hem.
Indeed.
--
Nickey
London, England
keep spam in sarnies: ndav...@cix.co.uk
Steve Ketcham
In article <1997032810...@p729.asd.euronet.nl>, tr...@euronet.nl
(Donna Richoux) wrote:
> David Carson <da...@neosoft.com.spamfilter> wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
> >
> > >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
Before the movie came out (mid to late '50s), I remember my mother using
"expialidocious" as a word. Could that be a clue?
Steve
--
Steve Ketcham Steve_...@stratus.com
Stratus Computer, Inc.
55 Fairbanks Blvd. Speaking for myself, not
Marlboro, MA 01752 Stratus.
Eric v/d Meer
In article <333DC0...@lunemere.com>, Truly Donovan
<nospam...@lunemere.com> wrote:
> David Carson wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
> >
> > >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
> > >
> > >As close as I can find, it originated as a song title in 1949. Is there a
> > >better answer?
> >
> > It is a song title from the movie, "Mary Poppins." 1949 sounds about right.
>
> 1949 doesn't sound right to me. Julie Andrews is older than I am, but
> not *that* much older, and I was 10 in 1949. And the movie was made
> after *My Fair Lady* opened on Broadway, which was roughly mid-fifties.
>
> --
> Truly Donovan
> "Industrial-strength SGML," Prentice Hall 1996
> ISBN 0-13-216243-1
> http://www.prenhall.com
Nope, Mary Poppins dates from 1964. BTW, Julie Andrews was born in 1935.
Cheers,
Eric.
The Taylor Family
But was the word just made up at random, or did they use a system?
For example, obviously the super-, -ious, -istic-, and -ex- parts
are suffixes, but what about the other parts?
Mark Baker
In article <3351A7...@pcola.gulf.net>,
The Taylor Family <jnat...@pcola.gulf.net> writes:
> But was the word just made up at random, or did they use a system?
> For example, obviously the super-, -ious, -istic-, and -ex- parts
> are suffixes,
Super is a suffix? I don't know any words with a suffixed super and I would
be very surprised to come across one. On the other hand, it's a fairly
common prefix.
If you want a word meaning prefixes or suffixes, it's "affixes".
K. Edgcombe
In article <Eric.Vandermeer-...@news.leiden.nl.net>,
Eric v/d Meer <Eric.Va...@net.HCC.nl> wrote:
>In article <333DC0...@lunemere.com>, Truly Donovan
><nospam...@lunemere.com> wrote:
>
>> David Carson wrote:
>> >
>> > It is a song title from the movie, "Mary Poppins." 1949 sounds about right.
>>
>> 1949 doesn't sound right to me. Julie Andrews is older than I am, but
>> not *that* much older, and I was 10 in 1949. And the movie was made
>> after *My Fair Lady* opened on Broadway, which was roughly mid-fifties.
>>
Well, there was a film (probably 1964), and before that there was a musical
(which may well be late 40's or early 50's). Before that, of course, boys and
girls, there was a Book (actually, I think, several books). The Book was
spellbinding, sharp, witty, rather frightening, and absolutely free of the sort
of sugary sentiment that disfigures the musical and film. I believe
P.D.Travers would have hated what was done to her work.
This is all irrelevant, because the book didn't (I am fairly certain) contain
the word which started this discussion.
However, you may both be right about the dates.
Katy
Duncan McKenzie
Mark Baker <mn...@cam.ac.uk> wrote in article
<5isvql$p...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>...
> In article <3351A7...@pcola.gulf.net>,
> The Taylor Family <jnat...@pcola.gulf.net> writes:
> > But was the word just made up at random, or did they use a system?
> > For example, obviously the super-, -ious, -istic-, and -ex- parts
> > are suffixes,
>
> Super is a suffix? I don't know any words with a suffixed super and I
would
> be very surprised to come across one. On the other hand, it's a fairly
> common prefix.
To quote Mary Poppins, "Of course you CAN say it backwards, which is
dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupers", but that's going too far, don't you
think?
So, as you can see, "super" can indeed be used as a suffix, provided that
it is changed to the terminal formation: "rupers".
Duncan McKenzie
Toronto, Canada
---------------------------------------------------------
If you would like help learning English, my friends in this newsgroup will
be happy to be your pen pals
sda...@ibm.net
> > > On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
> > >
> > > >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
As a sidebar, I'll mention that years ago there was a BBC radio game
show called "My Word" in which 2 great comedians, Denis Norden and Frank
Muir, had to explain the origins of well-known phrases. They'd tell a
story leading up to a final sentence which sounded like the phrase. In
this case, one of them (I forget which) told a tale of a man having to
make a list of things to do before his wife got back, and ended up with
"Soup-a cauli-fridge-elastic-eggs-pea-halitosis" [and the 2nd item is
short for cauliflower...]
Regards
Simon Davey
Toronto
Adrian Tan
K. Edgcombe wrote:
> girls, there was a Book (actually, I think, several books). The Book was
> spellbinding, sharp, witty, rather frightening, and absolutely free of the sort
> of sugary sentiment that disfigures the musical and film. I believe
> P.D.Travers would have hated what was done to her work.
Oh, she did. I recall an interview with her in which she said as much.
Anandashankar Mazumdar
On Mon, 14 Apr 1997 sda...@ibm.net wrote:
> As a sidebar, I'll mention that years ago there was a BBC radio game
> show called "My Word" in which 2 great comedians, Denis Norden and Frank
> Muir, had to explain the origins of well-known phrases. They'd tell a
> story leading up to a final sentence which sounded like the phrase. In
> this case, one of them (I forget which) told a tale of a man having to
> make a list of things to do before his wife got back, and ended up with
> "Soup-a cauli-fridge-elastic-eggs-pea-halitosis" [and the 2nd item is
> short for cauliflower...]
_Was_? I listen to this show every Sunday on public radio. Are these
re-runs? Next you'll tell me that Frank Muir and Denis Norden died in the
mid-70s. Don't break my heart, please.
Ananda
John Cowan
K. Edgcombe wrote:
> The Book was
> spellbinding, sharp, witty, rather frightening, and absolutely free of the sort
> of sugary sentiment that disfigures the musical and film. I believe
> P.D.Travers would have hated what was done to her work.
"Did hate it" is correct. And refused to even discuss the matter
for the rest of her life, at least publicly (she died about two
years ago).
Producer: "And I can assure you, Mr. Shaw, that the film we
make of your play will be entirely faithful to your original
concept, we will send you both preliminary and final scripts
for your approval, and any changes that you make, ..."
G.B.S.: "The difference between us, my dear fellow, is that
you are interested in nothing but Art, and I am interested
in nothing but money."
--
John Cowan co...@ccil.org
e'osai ko sarji la lojban
BILLM...@delphi.com
Quoting TheTaylorFamily<jnataylor from a message in sci.lang,alt.usage.english
>But was the word just made up at random, or did they use a system?
>For example, obviously the super-, -ious, -istic-, and -ex- parts
>are suffixes, but what about the other parts?
Uh, "super" and "ex" are generally prefixes.
Bill McCray
Lexington, KY
(billmccray at delphi dot com)
bronwyn_m.
On the same note, I read a story recently which stated that Mary Poppins
(to return to the original subject) having decided to retire from being
a nanny, moved to Southern California. She decided to open a little
shop where she could practice her super-cognitive powers. She
discovered she had a particular talent for people with bad breath. So
she set up shop, and to draw business, put a sign out in front which
read:
"Super California Mystic, Expert Halitosis."
Enjoy!
--
Bronwyn M.
Alexandria, VA
All things being equal, Sandra Bullock and I would look alike…
N.Mitchum
Of *My Word*, Anandashankar Mazumdar wrote:
-----
> _Was_? I listen to this show every Sunday on public radio. Are these
> re-runs? Next you'll tell me that Frank Muir and Denis Norden died in the
> mid-70s. Don't break my heart, please.
Dyllis Powell has died, I know, and only death would silence Muir and
Norden (which surely has not happened yet, else I would have felt a
great disturbance in the Force). When I asked last year whether the
show was still in production, I learned it had been discontinued for
some time. Each program is ageless, though, and it is usually
impossible to identify the decade of its origin, let alone the year.
Some of our British correspondents can provide fuller information.
--- NM : only a co-respondent
Daniel McCarthy
sda...@ibm.net wrote:
>
> > > > On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 19:11:24 -0600, 75114...@compuserve.com wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >What are the origins of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
>
> show called "My Word" in which 2 great comedians, Denis Norden and Frank
> Muir, had to explain the origins of well-known phrases. They'd tell a
> story leading up to a final sentence which sounded like the phrase. In
> this case, one of them (I forget which) told a tale of a man having to
> make a list of things to do before his wife got back, and ended up with
> "Soup-a cauli-fridge-elastic-eggs-pea-halitosis" [and the 2nd item is
> short for cauliflower...]
>
> Simon Davey
> Toronto
Could you tell me approximately when that show ran? I listen to it on
Maine Public Radio (Fridays, 7 p.m. est), and the references sound like
late 60s or early 70s so far, but I don't know how many years it lasted.
Regards,
Dan McCarthy
Lisa Kostyn
I cannot remember the ear exactly, but it was in teh early 60's. This
came from the movie, "Mary Poppins".
The reason that I remember it so well, I was only about 5 yrs old at the
time, was that my future stepfather and mothertook me to that movie a LOT.
It seems to me that we went at least 5 or 6 times!
That line in the movie caught my imagination and my mother can even
remember it, and apparently how I used to drive her crazy with singing the
above nonsensical word? phrase? whatever you want to call it! :-)
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