Talk:Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

This article was nominated for deletion on 2006-05-01. The result of the discussion was keep, per WP:SNOW.

Songs

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of songs on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SongsWikipedia:WikiProject SongsTemplate:WikiProject Songssong articles

United States: Cinema Mid‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Film portal This article is supported by WikiProject Film - American cinema task force (assessed as Mid-importance).

Film: British / American

	Film portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Film. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please refer to the documentation. To improve this article, please refer to the guidelines.FilmWikipedia:WikiProject FilmTemplate:WikiProject Filmfilm articles
	This article is supported by the British cinema task force.
	This article is supported by the American cinema task force.

Disney Mid‑importance

	Disney portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Disney, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of The Walt Disney Company and its affiliated companies on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DisneyWikipedia:WikiProject DisneyTemplate:WikiProject DisneyDisney articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

London Mid‑importance

	London portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject London, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of London on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LondonWikipedia:WikiProject LondonTemplate:WikiProject LondonLondon-related articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Library of Congress Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Library of Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Library of Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Library of CongressWikipedia:WikiProject Library of CongressTemplate:WikiProject Library of CongressLibrary of Congress articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.

Archives

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Untitled

Created by Kgauhelo Dikoko — Preceding unsigned comment added by Felix Tshweu (talk • contribs) 19:45, 2 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Unprotect?

Page has been protected since 2009 so maybe time to try unprotecting? I would have fixed the wrong link to double-talk but... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.69.23.230 (talk) 04:10, 8 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

a word that's for kids

Nup - we’re not going to unprotect this article. Rng0286 (talk) 10:46, 31 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help

help xx

The search term 'Wikipedia:Help' redirects here. Could someone change the redirect to go to the 'Help:Contents' page? Thanks! Nadhika99 (talk) 19:54, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In popular culture - again

I think it a shame this section was deleted - the 'word' has become a part of popular usage. Jack Lissauer continues to use it to refer to Kepler-11. See Kepler’s Multiple Planet Systems, July 2012 Blarcrean (talk) 22:18, 17 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For reference, The diff when it was removed in October 2011.

It is particularly complicated, when trying to cover popular-culture topics (a song/word from a disney movie). Eradicating the "In popular culture" sections is the easiest/laziest/simplest/cleanest way to handle it, but not (arguably) the most effective way to Grow the article. The essay WP:POPCULTURE links to all the relevant background and recommendations. HTH. —Quiddity (talk) 23:06, 17 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Grammatical Error

In the "Backwards version" part, the first sentence is grammatically incorrect.

Although, when the word is spelled backwards, it becomes "suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus", which is not at all similar to Poppins' claim.

This sentence has no independent clause. Although what? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.92.176.90 (talk) 20:20, 9 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Should presumably be "However"... AnonMoos (talk) 18:14, 1 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. The word is actually basically reversed by trochaic metrical feet... AnonMoos (talk) 18:16, 1 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 29 July 2013

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

supercalifragilisticexpeialidocius – A “word” coined (invented) by the Sherman brothers to be spoken (and sung) by various characters for its humorous entertainment value in the Walt Disney 1964 award-winning film “Mary Poppins.” The original production did not include that “word” in overtly-written, phonetically-pronounced, or spelled forms. It was not intended to enter English or to convey any meaning outside the Marry Poppins movie and has not been included in any standard dictionary In view of these facts, subsequent attempts to “rewrite” the originally released soundtrack seem trivial quibbling at best or, more likely, pernicious attempts to belittle the films’ success at worst. These 2 paragraphs illustrate my point. The second sentence proves the first sentence is irrelevant to this article. The second paragraph is equally irrelevant to the original film. Both should be removed. “When the word is spelled backwards it actually becomes "suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus", which is different.[4] However, her claim was not about spelling it backwards, but saying it backwards; 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 partially reverses the spelling of "super" to "rupes", one does come close to what Poppins said in the film.[citation needed] In the stage musical, the word's proper reversal is used.[citation needed] Rapper Ghostface Killah said "dociousaliexpilisticfragicalisuper" in his song "Buck 50".[citation needed]” If you wish to print an “actual” or “proper” reversal of the spoken “word,” do it word/element-by-word/element, phonemically, as we all “hear” it spoken in the original soundtrack: s/oo/p/er/ /k/a/l/i/ /f/r/a/j/ /i/l/i/s/t/i/k/ /eks/p/ee/a/l/i/ /d/oe/sh/u/s which spoken backwards becomes: s/u/sh/oe/ /d/i/l/a/ /ee/p/eks/ /k/i/t/s/i/l/ /i/j/a/r/ /f/i/l/ /a/k/er/ /p/oo/s. But who cares a damn? Mary Poppins is perhaps the all-time favorite movie for simple, good-natured, naturally fun-loving entertainment. All subsequent stage versions lose its childlike charm and spontaneity by presenting it as a much longer, tedious operatic-style spelling lesion. Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page). 75.13.35.145 (talk) 15:51, 29 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. What is the specific change you want made to the article? RudolfRed (talk) 01:20, 30 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Not in Marrian-Webster dictionary

According to Marrian-Webster, this word does not exist.

Michael Flower (talk) 04:03, 2 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Assuming you mean Merriam-Webster, this article is about the Sherman Brothers song, not the word. For that matter, Merriam Webster does not claim to be perfect - words can exist before they are catalogued. —Vanderdecken∴∫ξ φ 14:48, 2 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Merging into pop culture

I see several sections including the one about ?sailing and football that don't have that much to do with the word itself and are just more references to pop culture. Therefore I see no reason not to merge them into In popular culture. Lythronaxargestes (talk) 22:19, 1 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Create a Puns section?

While not strictly about the song, the word has several puns, another example of which is about Mahatma Gandhi, who was a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.232.192.10 (talk) 19:32, 13 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 8 August 2014

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

When talking about saying the word backwards, there is a spelling error. It is in the article: **dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupes**; however, you should note that the last prosodic foot should not be *rupes*, but *super*. So, it needs changed to **dociousaliexpilisticfragicalisuper** Efarrell18 (talk) 16:16, 8 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: The official lyrics say "dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupes" (see here). Stickee (talk) 01:05, 10 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Some people seem to get very literal about the reversal thing... AnonMoos (talk) 06:11, 11 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 13 August 2014

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Backwards version

I didn't want to change anything, but I would like to add to it. "Julie Andrews and her husband Tony Walton came up with the idea of saying "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" backwards. Tony Walton figured out how to do it, by inverting the syllables, rather than the letters (except for the end)."

^[1]

Thank you, Rebecca Burns Becca 52 (talk) 08:59, 13 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: This exact wording would appear to be COPYVIO of a blog posting. A reliable source would also be needed. -- ferret (talk) 22:24, 20 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Mary Poppins. Dir. Robert Stevenson. By Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi. Perf. Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns. Buena Vista Distribution Co., 1964. DVD.

What really does "say it backwards" mean?

In my mind, the logical interpretation is to reverse it phonetically, so it would be something like /səˈʃəʊdɨˌlæipˌskɛkɪtˌsɪlɨˌdʒærfɨˌlækəˌpuːs/. But I'm inclined to agree that it's open to interpretation.

For the record, when Connie Fisher appeared on Countdown once upon a time, she was asked to say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' backwards. She just gave 'dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupus' from the song. Is it a rule of the profession?

Moreover, it isn't clear what the section means exactly by the "proper reversal" in the stage musical - the phonetic reversal, the orthographic reversal or what? — Smjg (talk) 01:23, 14 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Reversing by phonetic sounds is not anything that people could keep in their memories with such a long word. In fact, the word is basically reversed by trochaic metrical feet (docious-ali-expi-listic-fragi-cali-rupus -- see comment of 18:16, 1 March 2013). AnonMoos (talk) 20:31, 14 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

True, but that doesn't stop it from being a logical interpretation, nor disambiguate "proper reversal". Moreover, "rupus" is not a trochaic metrical foot in the original word – "super" is, hence my point. So what's been done is to reverse the order of the metrical feet and additionally almost-reverse "super", presumably to make it sound more "backwards" as one gets back to the beginning. — Smjg (talk) 23:37, 14 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110727022846/http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/feb/22/has_mary_poppins_been_hiding_secret_over_44_years/ to http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/feb/22/has_mary_poppins_been_hiding_secret_over_44_years/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

N An editor has determined that the edit contains an error somewhere. Please follow the instructions below and mark the |checked= to true

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 05:58, 7 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Edit semi-protected request on 21 Dec 2016

A recent article is relevant to the current "Origin and meaning" section of the public page. The word was published by Helen Herman on March 10, 1931 in the Daily Orange, a student-run newspaper at Syracuse University. https://news.syr.edu/2016/12/first-known-use-of-mary-poppins-best-known-word-not-in-london-but-in-do/

Proposed change to the "Origin and meaning" section:

The Oxford English Dictionary estimates that the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" was first attested in the 1940s.[2] However, Syracuse University Archives show student Helen Herman wrote the word (as "supercaliflawjalisticeexpialadoshus") in the March 10, 1931 publication of the student-run Daily Orange newspaper. [citing the syr.edu article from above]

The roots of the word have been defined[3] as follows: super- "above", cali- "beauty", fragilistic- "delicate", expiali- "to atone", and -docious "educable", with the sum of these parts signifying roughly "Atoning for educability through delicate beauty." According to the film, in which the word gained its popularity, it is defined as "something to say when you have nothing to say". However, it is commonly defined as "extraordinarily good" or "wonderful" as all references to the word in the film can be perceived as positive. Dictionary.com also notes that the word is "used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English."[4]

According to Richard M. Sherman, co-writer of the song with his brother, Robert, the word was one that the two knew in their youth. In an episode of the Disney Family Album featuring the story of the brother's careers, Richard Sherman stated, "we remembered this wonderful word from our childhood".[5] Richard noted, in an interview after Robert's death in 2012, they "heard the word for the first time in the 1930s, as children attending a camp in Pennsylvania." [citing the same syr.edu article from above]

In a 2007 interview, Sherman indicated that the final version of the word was produced by the two brothers over the course of two weeks during the songwriting process, indicating only that the origins of the word were in their memories of creating double-talk words in their childhood.[6] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.230.128.236 (talk) 19:10, 21 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://www.webcitation.org/66ofwE0aD?url=http://laist.com/2007/11/02/laist_interview_66.php to http://laist.com/2007/11/02/laist_interview_66.php

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:13, 3 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131228025120/http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/movies/supercalmp3.htm to http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/movies/supercalmp3.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:57, 14 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Outkast

The title of Outkast's 1994 debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik clearly references Supercali-, etc. as an inspirational source. Is the resemblance close enough to merit inclusion in this article, however? Nuttyskin (talk) 18:39, 15 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah I would agree with you on that, it is obvious to me that it's a reference to the subject of this article. Best to get some other people's opinions too though. TheSameGuy (talk) 23:56, 16 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 30 July 2019

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

MY SUBMISSION: THE WORD SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS IS USED WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY AS A RESULT OF WONDER AND IS SPONTANEOUS 102.149.246.169 (talk) 12:57, 30 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. ‑‑ElHef (Meep?) 13:12, 30 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Word meaning should go first

1. I have copied it from Simple English wiki.

2. The resulting (derivative) song should be demoted: not in the lead. Zezen (talk) 12:14, 17 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 24 October 2019

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means something that is extraordinary good or something is going wonderful. "The only word to characterize Kepler's discoveries was ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.’" 1940s: apparently a fanciful formation based on super, popularized by the 1964 film Mary Poppins Press this link to see the graph that shows how many times people have said the word. 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'. Press this link to see the graph of how many times 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'. AqwearuAdmi (talk) 21:38, 24 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not done. It's not clear what changes you want to make. Please make a precise request. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 01:16, 25 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 12 November 2020

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Please change the YouTube link in the external links section to another YouTube video relevant to the song because DisneyMusicVEVO has privated Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious on their channel. Rexh17 (talk) 19:54, 12 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Not done You did not specify a replacement URL. I added {{restricted access}} which shows up as (subscription required). That should work for now until a better link is available or until the link is removed outright. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 22:01, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Supercalifragilexpialidocious" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Supercalifragilexpialidocious. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 February 25#Supercalifragilexpialidocious until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 17:15, 25 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Suprercalafragalasticespealadoshes" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Suprercalafragalasticespealadoshes. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 23#Suprercalafragalasticespealadoshes until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 04:00, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Supercadrafristicexpealodocious" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Supercadrafristicexpealodocious. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 23#Supercadrafristicexpealodocious until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 04:04, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 23#Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 04:08, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Supercalafregalisticexpialadociious" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Supercalafregalisticexpialadociious. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 23#Supercalafregalisticexpialadociious until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 04:15, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Supercalifragilisticoespialidoso" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Supercalifragilisticoespialidoso. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 23#Supercalifragilisticoespialidoso until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 04:20, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Supercalafragilisticexpiealadoscious" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Supercalafragilisticexpiealadoscious. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 23#Supercalafragilisticexpiealadoscious until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 04:37, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

How do you spell super fragile calla listed XP à la Docia`s

Spell super fragile casual is stick XP à la Docia`s backwards 2601:145:401:6630:EDE4:E8E9:C4B:1AE7 (talk) 00:02, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

s`acioD al à PX kcits si lausac eligarf repus. Or, if you mean the proper spelling, suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus. But we do not play games here. -LaundryPizza03 (d c¯) 00:05, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

As discussed in several subsections above, in the song's lyrics, the word is basically reversed by trochaic metrical feet... AnonMoos (talk) 12:58, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Page Is Being Very Hypocritical

“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.[8].”

And then it goes into depth by showing a single, combinant response. SilverTheTerribleMathematician (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 12:03, 11 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Other song usage(s)

Would it be meaningful to mention it's usage in the Mitchie-M vocaloid song "Ai Dee"? https://vocaloidlyrics.fandom.com/wiki/%E6%84%9BDee_(Ai_Dee) Or at what point does it become overwhelming to mention every possible usage of the word? Jelabarre59 (talk) 02:29, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Mary Poppins. Dir. Robert Stevenson. By Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi. Perf. Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns. Buena Vista Distribution Co., 1964. DVD.

[1]