Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Difference between revisions
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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means you like cocks. Cocksare mail hens but... they have cocks. |
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{{Unreferenced|date=February 2007}} |
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'''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!''' ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA pronunciation]]: {{IPA|[ˌsu.pəˌkæ.lɪˌfɹæ.dʒəl.ɪs.tɪkˌɛk.spi.æ.lɪˈdəʊ.ʃəs]}}) is a song featuring this long word in the musical film ''[[Mary Poppins (film)|Mary Poppins]]'' and in the musical play ''[[Mary Poppins (musical)|Mary Poppins]]'' by Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman ([[The Sherman Brothers]]). |
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The song describes how using the word is a miraculous way to talk oneself out of difficult situations and even a way to change one's mood. It occurs in the film's animated sequence where Mary Poppins is harangued by reporters after winning a horse race and responds to a reporter's claim that there are not words to describe her feelings of the moment. Mary disagrees with that claim and begins the song about one word which she can use to describe her feelings. Following the successes of the film and musical play, the word has been used as an adjective signifying rather redundant superlatives, such as "the most absolutely stunningly fantastic" of experiences. |
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In the West End and Broadway versions of the musical play ''[[Mary Poppins (musical)|Mary Poppins]]'', everyone runs out of conversations, and Mary and the children go to Mrs. Corry's shop, where you can buy them. Jane and Michael pick out some letters and spell a few words. Bert and Mrs. Corry use the letters to make up some words (whose existence Jane doubts). Mary says that you could use some letters more than one time and creates the longest word of all in this song.{{facts}} |
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Critics' belief that the word itself has obscure origins has created some debate about when it was first used historically. According to Robert B. Sherman, co-writer of the song with his brother, Richard, the word was created mostly out of [[double-talk]].{{facts}}<!--page references to sources are needed throughout for verification. Has anyone checked the source given to verify this information? Needs more dev.?--> |
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Roots of the word have been defined, as [[Richard Lederer]] writes in his book ''[[Crazy English]]'' as follows: super- "above," cali- "beauty," fragilistic- "delicate," expiali- "to atone," and docious- "educable," with the sum of these parts signifying roughly "Atoning for extreme and delicate beauty while still being highly educable."{{facts}} This explication of its connotations suits the fictional character of Mary Poppins, in that she presents herself as both superlatively beautiful and also supremely intelligent and capable of great achievements.{{facts}} |
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According to the song, "you can say it backwards, which is '''dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupus'''". [[Julie Andrews]], the star of ''Mary Poppins'', has said that her husband at the time, [[Tony Walton]], devised the backwards version of the word that is heard near the end of the song, ''Dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupus''.{{facts}} Strictly speaking, in that word, only each individual [[root (linguistics)|root]] is reversed, rather than the order of each letter, with the exception of the part ''rupus'', which is somewhat reversed, misspelled, and mispronounced. In contrast, the musical play's version of the song presents a version of the word with all the letters reversed.{{facts}} |
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==Unsuccessful legal action== |
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* In [[1965]] the song was the subject of an unsuccessful [[lawsuit]] by two song writers against the makers of the [[Walt Disney]] film. The plainiffs alleged that it was a [[copyright infringement]] of a [[1951]] song of their own called '''Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus'''. The suit failed because affidavits were produced showing that "variants of the word were known to and used by them [sic] many years prior to 1949." and because no copyright was registered with the [[Registrar of Copyrights]] in Washington D.C.{{facts}} |
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==Allusions to the word and/or the song in popular culture== |
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{{Unreferenced|date=February 2007}} |
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* It was ranked #36 in the [[American Film Institute]]'s list of the [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs|100 Greatest Songs in Movie History]] in [[2004]]. |
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[[Image:Supercaley.png|right|frame|The Sun headline.]] |
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*The headline "'''Super [[Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.|Caley]] go Ballistic, [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]] are Atrocious'''" was used by [[The Sun (newspaper)|The Sun]] newspaper in [[2000]] following a famous upset in the [[Scottish Cup]] and was voted pun of the year for the year 2000 on [[The Big Breakfast]].<sup>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/2875957.stm]</sup> |
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*The eclectic songwriter and performer [[Prince (artist)|Prince]] included a song called "'''Superfunkycalifragisexy'''" on ''[[The Black Album (Prince)|The Black Album]]''. |
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*The [[television series]] ''[[The Simpsons]]'' had an episode called "'''[[Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious]]'''", which is a parody of the ''[[Mary Poppins (film)|Mary Poppins]]'' movie. The "Annoyed Grunt" in the title refers to [[Homer Simpson]]'s exclamation "[[D'oh!]]," now a cliché. |
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*Also in ''The Simpsons'', [[Professor Frink]] refers to '''microcalifragilistics''' as a field of science. |
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*In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes|The Sandman]]'' #8, [[Dream (DC Comics)|Morpheus]]'s sister [[Death (DC Comics)|Death]] uses this phrase when she meets Morpheus in a park feeding the birds. She states that her brother's actions remind her of a quotation from the movie ''Mary Poppins'' ("''You do that [feeding pigeons] too much, you know what you get? Fat Pigeons!''"), then she talks about how much she loves the movie and eventually ends up explaining to her brother the meaning of ''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'' ("''Fantabulous word, huh? It means y'know, great. Wonderful, ginchy, gnarly''.") She also uses the term in ''Captain Atom'' #42, when she takes [[Captain Atom]] to [[Purgatory]] during a [[near-death experience]]. |
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*The song's melody is also frequently used with altered lyrics, for the purposes of political satire, by the [[Capitol Steps]]. Recent examples include ''SuperCaliforniaRecallFreakShowWasAtrocious'' (2003), ''SuperJealousFragileMissWithSexualNeurosis'' (1998), and ''SuperFranticUnproductiveNothingLegislation'' (1997). |
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*[[The Vandals]] made a cover featuring all the words of the song, but to a different tune, that appeared on the album ''[[Live Fast Diarrhea]]''. |
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*[[Amateur Transplants]], best known for the [[London Underground (song)|London Underground song]], parodied the song to refer to a fictitious drug, "Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin". |
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*Parody writer Spaff has produced three songs to this tune. The first is about [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]]'s very long name ("Esther Madonna Veronica Louise Ciccone Ritchie"), the second is entitled "Super-Powers-Go-Ballistic-Execute-Bin-Laden," and the third is "Supertelevangelistic Sex and Drugs Psychosis" (referring to [[Ted Haggard]]). |
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*In [[2006]], [[Orlando Brown]] reprised this song for [[DisneyMania|DisneyMania, Vol. 4]]. Its title is "Super Cali ([[BoiOB]] Version)." |
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*In [[1966]], [[The Chipmunks|Alvin and the Chipmunks]] were nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] for their version of the song. |
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*A famous comedy bit from ''The Benny Hill Show'' called "Continental Cabaret" featured [[Benny Hill]], his sidekick [[Jackie Wright]] and the beautiful and scantily-clad [[Diana Darvey]].[http://www.mrskin.com/data/star/00/23/42/biopic2_4136.jpg] Darvey called Hill and Wright "a pair of twits", then spelled out ''twits'' while emphasizing each letter with a finger-poke to Hill's chest and then pronounced the word again while rubbing Hill's chest. Hill then called Darvey, "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Darvey asked how that word is spelled and Wright, much to Hill's disappointment, immediately spelled it out before Hill could even raise his finger. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" also is a modern term for Doocats in Australia (of the Tipuana state).[http://www.runstop.de/bennysplace/set03b.html] |
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*The television show [[House of Mouse]] featured an episode where Goofy and Max sing a song called "Soup or Salad, Fries or Biscuits, Extra Olives, Donuts." It is sung to the same tune as "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" |
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*The band [[Cobra Starship]] uses the word in their song "[[Hollaback Boy]]." |
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*In the ''[[Fairly OddParents]]'' episode entitled "No Substitute for Crazy," Mrs. Sunshine uses a variation. Cosmo uses two later. There is also a babysitter named "Susie Califragilistic" in the episode "Remy Rides Again" whose personality parallels that of Mary Poppins.{{facts}} |
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*In late 2006, a [[graffiti artist]] spray-painted the word, in large-scale lettering, on the side of [[Toronto]]'s busy [[Don Valley Parkway]] as it approaches the [[Prince Edward Viaduct]].{{facts}} |
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==References== |
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* [[Sherman, Robert B.]] ''[[Walt's Time: from before to beyond|Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond]]''. Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998. |
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==Further reading== |
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*[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msupercali.html Is 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' a real word referring to Irish hookers?] query and responses at ''[[Straight Dope|The Straight Dope]]''. |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/supercal.htm "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"] at the [[National Institutes of Health]], Department of Health & Human Services (NIEHS). (Lyrics and Quicktime audio clip). |
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*[http://www.reelclassics.com/Musicals/MaryPoppins/marypoppins.htm ''Mary Poppins'' (1964)] at ''Reel Classics''; features "Multimedia Clips": incl. [http://www.reelclassics.com/Audio_Video/Videos7s/marypop_highlights2.mov Mary Poppins Highlights: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"]. (Quicktime video clip). |
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==See also== |
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*[[Antidisestablishmentarianism]] |
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*[[Longest word in English|Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic]] |
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[[Category:Long song titles]] |
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[[Category:1964 songs]] |
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[[Category:1964 singles]] |
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[[Category:Sherman Brothers]] |
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[[Category:Disney songs]] |
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[[Category:Mary Poppins songs]] |
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[[Category:Alvin and the Chipmunks songs]] |
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[[es:Supercalifragilisticoespialidoso]] |
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[[fr:Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious]] |
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[[it:Supercalifragilistichespiralidoso]] |
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[[he:סופרקאליפרג'ליסטיקאקספיאלידואשס]] |
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[[ja:スーパーカリフラジリステックエクスピアリドゥーシャス]] |
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[[pl:Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious]] |
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[[pt:Supercalifragilisticoespialidoso]] |
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[[sv:Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious]] |
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Revision as of 12:08, 8 February 2007
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means you like cocks. Cocksare mail hens but... they have cocks.