Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
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"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 haranged 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.
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 (although, strictly speaking, only syllables are reversed, rather than the actual letter order.)
The headline "Super Caley go Ballistic, Celtic are Atrocious" was used by a Scottish newspaper in 2000 following a famous Football upset. [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/2875957.stm)
Psychobilly band Elvis Hitler named their 1992 album Supersadomasochisticexpialidocious.
The television series The Simpsons had an episode called "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiali(Annoyed-Grunt)cious", which is a parody of the Mary Poppins movie. 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). "Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin" (2004) by Amateur Transplants also uses the tune.
External links
- The Straight Dope: "Is 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' a real word referring to Irish hookers?" (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msupercali.html)