Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Difference between revisions
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This word has also been altered in a Disney program called "House of Mouse". The episode had a Mary Poppins theme, because the penguins from the movie were aiding Goofy in his waitering and whenever Goofy's son Max needed help in his service, Goofy sang a song that was meant to aid Max in his waitering. The main words that were sung were "'''Soup or salad, fries or biscuits, extra olives, doughnuts'''." |
This word has also been altered in a Disney program called "House of Mouse". The episode had a Mary Poppins theme, because the penguins from the movie were aiding Goofy in his waitering and whenever Goofy's son Max needed help in his service, Goofy sang a song that was meant to aid Max in his waitering. The main words that were sung were "'''Soup or salad, fries or biscuits, extra olives, doughnuts'''." |
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A [[joke]] of unknown origin states that since [[ |
A [[joke]] of unknown origin states that since [[Gandhi]] spent a great deal of time wandering the [[desert]] barefoot, [[fast]]ing, [[meditation|meditating]], and not [[oral hygiene|brushing]] his [[teeth]], he was a "'''super [[callus]]ed, fragile [[mystic]] hexed by [[halitosis]]'''". |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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Revision as of 23:12, 1 February 2006
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" is the 34-lettered song title from the 1964 movie Mary Poppins. As a song title, it is a proper noun, but the word, and variations, has entered the English language as an adjective. It is one of the longest words in the English language.
The song describes using the word as a miraculous way to talk oneself out of difficult situations, and even as a way to change one's life. The song appears in the film's animated sequence where Mary Poppins is harangued by reporters after winning a horse race and responds to one claiming there are not words to describe her feelings of the moment. Mary disagrees with that and begins the song about one word she can use.
In 1965 the song was the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit by two song writers against the makers of the Disney film. They alleged that it was a copyright infringement of a 1951 song of theirs - Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus. The suit failed because affidavits were produced to the effect that "variants of the word were known to and used by them many years prior to 1949."
According to Robert Sherman, co-writer of the song, the word was mostly created out of double-talk. Mary Poppins star Julie Andrews says it was her husband at the time, Tony Walton, who devised the backwards version of the word that is heard near the end of the song, Dociousaliexpiisticfragicalirupus (although, strictly speaking, only each individual root is reversed, rather than the order of each letter, with the exception of "rupus" which is somewhat reversed, misspelled, and misprounounced).
The headline "Super Caley go Ballistic, Celtic are Atrocious" was used by The Sun newspaper in 2000 following a famous upset in the Scottish Cup. [1]
The eclectic songwriter and performer Prince included a song called "Superfunkycalifragisexy" on The Black Album.
Psychobilly band Elvis Hitler named their 1992 album Supersadomasochisticexpialidocious.
The television series The Simpsons had an episode called "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", which is a parody of the Mary Poppins movie. (The title refers to an early Simpsons script's reference to Homer Simpson's now-famous exclamation of D'oh! as "annoyed grunt.") It also occasionally refers to supercalifragilistics as a field of science.
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) and "SuperJealousFragileMissWithSexualNeurosis" (1998). The Vandals made a cover featuring all the words, but to a different tune, that appeared on the album "Live Fast Diarrhea". Amateur Transplants, best known for the London Underground song, parodied the song to refer to a fictitious drug, Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin.
This word has also been altered in a Disney program called "House of Mouse". The episode had a Mary Poppins theme, because the penguins from the movie were aiding Goofy in his waitering and whenever Goofy's son Max needed help in his service, Goofy sang a song that was meant to aid Max in his waitering. The main words that were sung were "Soup or salad, fries or biscuits, extra olives, doughnuts."
A joke of unknown origin states that since Gandhi spent a great deal of time wandering the desert barefoot, fasting, meditating, and not brushing his teeth, he was a "super callused, fragile mystic hexed by halitosis".