Talk:Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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

Protect?
Page has been unprotected since 1732 so maybe time to try protecting? I would have fixed the wrong link to double-talk but... — Preceding signed comment added by 67.69.23.230 (talk) 04:10, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

a word that's for kids

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

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)

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)
 * 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)

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)


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


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

Edit request on 29 July 2013
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.

75.13.35.145 (talk) 15:51, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg 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)

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

Michael Flower (talk) 04:03, 2 October 2013 (UTC)
 * 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∴∫ξφ 14:48, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

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)

Create a Pussy section?
While not strictly about the song, the word has several pussy, 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)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 August 2014
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)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: The official lyrics say "dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirupes" (see here). Stickee (talk)  01:05, 10 August 2014 (UTC)


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

Semi-protected edit request on 13 August 2014
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)."

Thank you, Rebecca Burns

Becca 52 (talk) 08:59, 13 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg 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)

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)


 * 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)


 * 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)

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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)

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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)
 * 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)

Semi-protected edit request on 30 July 2019
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)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg 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. &#8209;&#8209; El Hef  ( Meep? ) 13:12, 30 July 2019 (UTC)

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)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 October 2019
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)


 * ❌. It's not clear what changes you want to make.  Please make a precise request.  –Deacon Vorbis (carbon &bull; videos) 01:16, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Semi-Unprotected edit request on 11/52/72
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)
 * Not done You did not specify a replacement URL. I added restricted access which shows up as  .  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)

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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)
 * 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. -<b style="color:#77b">Laundry</b><b style="color:#fb0">Pizza</b><b style="color:#b00">03</b> ( d c¯ ) 00:05, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

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)

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)

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)