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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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"Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious"
1964 US single
Single by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke
from the album Mary Poppins: Original Cast Soundtrack
B-side"A Spoonful of Sugar"
Released1964 (1964)
Recorded1963
GenreMusical, show tune
Length2:03
LabelDisneyland
SongwriterSherman Brothers
Audio
"Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious" on YouTube

"Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious" (/ˌsuː.pər.ˌkæ.lɪ.ˌfræ.dʒɪ.ˌlɪs.tɪk.ˌɛks.pi.ˌæ.lɪ.ˈdoʊ.ʃəs/ ⓘ) is a song and single from the 1964 Disney musical film Mary Poppins. It was written by the Sherman Brothers, and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.[1] It also appears in the 2004 stage show version. Because Mary Poppins was a period piece set in 1910, songs that sounded similar to songs of the period were wanted. The movie version finished at #36 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Story context

The song occurs in the chalk-drawing outing animated sequence, just after Mary Poppins wins a horse race. Flush with her victory, she is immediately surrounded by reporters who pepper her with questions and suggest that she is at a loss for words. Mary disagrees, saying that at least one word is appropriate for the situation, and begins the song with this very word.

Word meaning and general origin

The word is a compound word, and said by Richard Lederer in his book Crazy English to be made up of these words: super- (above), -cali- (beauty), -fragilistic- (delicate), -expiali- (to atone), and -docious (educable), with all of these parts combined meaning "atoning for being educable through delicate beauty".[2]

The Oxford English Dictionary first records the word (with a spelling of "super­cali­flawjalistic­expiala­doshus") in the column titled "A-muse-ings" by Helen Herman in the Syracuse University Daily Orange, dated March 10, 1931.[3][4] In the column, Herman states that the word "implies all that is grand, great, glorious, splendid, superb, wonderful".[5][6]

The word was popularized in the 1964 film Mary Poppins,[3] in which it is used as the title of a song and defined as "something to say when you don't know what to say".

The Sherman Brothers, who wrote the Mary Poppins song, have given several conflicting explanations for the word's origin, in one instance claiming to have coined it themselves, based on their memories of having created double-talk words as children.[7] In another instance, they wrote:

When we were little boys in the mid-1930s, we went to a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains, where we were introduced to a very long word that had been passed down in many variations through many generations of kids. ... The word as we first heard it was super-cadja-flawjalistic-espealedojus.[8]

Dictionary.com meanwhile says it is "used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English."[9] The word contains 34 letters and 14 syllables.

In 1965, the song was the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit by songwriters Gloria Parker and Barney Young against Wonderland Music, Disney's music publishing subsidiary, and publisher of the song from the film.[10] The plaintiffs alleged that it was a copyright infringement of their 1949 song "Super­cala­fajalistick­espeeala­dojus". Also known as "The Super Song", it was recorded by Alan Holmes and His New Tones for Columbia Records, with vocal by Hal Marquess and the Holmes Men, and music and lyrics by Patricia Smith (a Gloria Parker pen name) and Don Fenton.[3][11] Another recording of "Super­cala­fajalistick­espeeala­dojus", performed by The Arabian Knights and published by Gloro Records, was released in 1951. The Disney publishers won the lawsuit in part because they produced affidavits showing that "variants of the word were known ... many years prior to 1949".[11]

Backwards version

During the song, Poppins says, "You know, you can say it backwards, which is 'docious­ali­expi­listic-fragil­cali­rupus', but that's going a bit too far, don't you think?"—to which Dick Van Dyke replies, "Indubitably". Andrews's husband, Tony Walton, who also designed the sets and costumes, came up with the backwards version.

Her claim was not about spelling it backwards, but rather saying it backwards; in other words, if one breaks the word into several sections or prosodic feet ("super-cali-fragi-listic-expi-ali-docious") and recites them in reverse sequence, and also modifies "super" to "rupus", it comes close to what Poppins said in the film. However, when the word is spelled backwards it actually becomes "suoicod­ilaipxe­citsiligarf­ilac­repus", which is different.[12] In the stage musical, the word's actual spelling reversal is used.

Charts

"Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious" was released as a single, achieving a measure of commercial success on the U.S. music charts. It peaked at number 66 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It did much better on the Adult Contemporary chart, reaching number 14.[13]

Chart performance for "Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious"
Chart (1965) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 66
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[13] 14
US Cash Box Top 100[15] 80

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[16] Silver 200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[17] Gold 500,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Stage musical

In the stage musical, Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael Banks to visit Mrs Corry's shop to buy "an ounce of conversation", only to find that Mrs Corry has run out of conversation. She does, however have some letters, and Jane and Michael each pick out seven, with Mary choosing one also. As Bert, Mary and the rest of the ensemble struggle to create words out of the fifteen letters, Mary reminds them that they can always use the same letter more than once, and creates the word (and song) super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious. In addition, the cast spells it out in a kind of gesture that was suggested by choreographer Stephen Mear, whose partner is deaf.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S.; Robinson, Mark A. (2009). The Disney Song Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-8108-6938-7.
  2. ↑ Lederer, Richard (June 1998). Crazy English. Simon and Schuster. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-43-913894-6.
  3. 1 2 3 "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, adj". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  4. ↑ "The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on January 21, 2025. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  5. ↑ Herman, Helen (March 10, 1931). "A-Muse-ings". Syracuse Daily Orange. Archived from the original on March 11, 2013.
  6. ↑ Zimmer, Ben (April 23, 2012). "Tracking Down the Roots of a "Super" Word". Visual Thesaurus. Thinkmap, Inc. Archived from the original on April 30, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  7. ↑ Sherman, Richard M. (November 2, 2007). "LAist Interview: Richard M. Sherman". LAist (Interview). Interviewed by Brad Herman. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  8. ↑ Sherman, Robert B.; Sherman, Richard M. (1998). Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond (1st ed.). Santa Clarita, CA: Camphor Tree. ISBN 978-0-9646059-3-0.
  9. ↑ "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Dictionary.com. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" a real word referring to Irish hookers?". The Straight Dope. August 6, 2002. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: What does it mean?". BBC News. March 7, 2012. Archived from the original on July 19, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  12. ↑ "KTKA News: Mary Poppins involved in 44-year cover-up". ktka.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  13. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1993). Joel Whitburn's Top Adult Contemporary 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-89820-099-7.
  14. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1994). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990. Record Research. ISBN 978-0-89820-089-8.
  15. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles". tropicalglen.com. May 15, 1965. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  16. ↑ "British single certifications – Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved January 26, 2021. Select singles in the Formats field. Type Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke in the "Search:" field.
  17. ↑ "American single certifications – Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (feat. The Pearlie Chorus)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Stephen Mear". broadwayworld.com. Wisdom Digital Media. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
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