Supercalifragilisticexpialigetic
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Superkalifragilistisch expiallegorisch are German translations of the English art word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (pronounced / ˌsuːpɚˌkælɪˌfrædʒəlˌɪstɪkˌɛkspiːˌælɪdoʊʃəs /) from the same song in the movie musical Mary Poppins of Walt Disney Productions . The term was translated into many languages together with the film musical, mostly based on the English original.
The song was written by Richard M. Sherman and was first sung in 1964 in the musical Mary Poppins by actors Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke .
The word is used as a nonsense term in a song of the musical: "Supercalifragilisticexpialigetic. This word sounds terrible through and through because synthetic. If you say it loud enough, it seems clever and almost prophetic, supercalifragilisticxpialigetic."
In the film musical, this word occupies a key position with regard to the underlying mental attitude. The film character Jane explains it as "... something that you [can] say when you don't know what [else] you should say" (orig .: "... something to say when you don't know what to say. " ). In the end, even the hard-hearted banker George Banks takes it into his active vocabulary in the film and is happy like a happy child: "Supercalifragilisticexpialigetic! Mary Poppins was right, it's extraordinary. It really cheers you up! He, he, he, he .. . " (orig .: " Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Mary Poppins was right, it's extraordinary! It does make you feel better! Hee hee hee hee! " ).
Structure of the term
The 34-letter word in English consists of several separable components that can be interpreted as follows:
| word | English | english to german | origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| great | above | above, above average | Latin super : about |
| cali | beauty | beauty | Greek κάλλος : beauty |
| fragilistic | delicate | fragile, sensitive | Latin fragilis : fragile, fragile |
| expiali | to atone | make amends, atone | Latin expiatum , past participle to Latin expiō : atone, atone |
| docious | educable | educable | Latin docere : teach, teach |
It is unclear to what extent the word is used primarily onomatopoeic or with an actual meaning. Richard Lederer translates the entire word in his book Crazy English as "atoning for extreme and delicate beauty [while being] highly educable" . It is also said to be the most famous English word with more than 28 letters.
Influence in everyday language
The tongue-twisting word had a great influence on the young colloquial language of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966 Chris Howland recorded a single with the newly translated cover version "Superkalifragilistische Expiallegorisch / Unterpfaffenhofen über Oberpfaffenhofen" . In another version he sang "Supercalifragilisticxpiallegoric: This word is wonderful and also rhetorical. If you want to hear my opinion, I say categorically: supercalifragilisticxpiallegoric." Based on "Supercalifragilisticexpialigetisch" Prince released a song called Superfunkycalifragisexy on the Black Album .
In 2002 the (false) claim that the term comes from the red light milieu was investigated on the page The Straight Dope .
The catchy speaking rhythm of this word is also occasionally used for word games , for example in a February 2000 headline in The Sun : "Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious" , in German: "Super-Caley freaks out, Celtic is terrible" . This describes an extraordinary situation in Scottish football when the small club Inverness Caledonian Thistle ( "Caley" ) unexpectedly beat Celtic Glasgow 3-1 in the Scottish Cup .
Individual evidence
- ↑ information on the film musical in the Internet Movie Database (Engl.)
- ↑ information about RM Sherman in the Internet Movie Database (Engl.)
- ↑ Quotes from the film in the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Quotes from the film in the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ The linguistic explanations are from: Richard Lederer, Crazy English , New York, 1989, 1998, p. 40, ISBN 0-671-02323-3
- ↑ Richard Lederer's curriculum vitae in the Engl. Wikipedia
- ↑ Is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" a real word referring to Irish hookers?
- ↑ Photo of the headline on BBC (accessed May 3, 2010)
Web links
- Original lyrics of the song sung by Mary Poppins at the National Institutes of Health, USA
- German translation: [1]
- Single Chris Howland: [2]