Talk:Trip the light fantastic

Second paragraph of article: doubts
The paragraph describing a bicyclist changing a traffic light sounds to me like a very localized or individual usage. The dance reference is well supported in the article; the traffic light not at all. I'd like to see some support for the bicycle usage. Bealevideo (talk) 05:52, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I searched online for any usage similar to this and I didn't find anything. 128.102.107.197 (talk) 07:46, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

General Comments
The phrase is spoken in Stalag 17, when Animal thinks his friend, Harry Shapiro, is Betty Grable. It is also the title of Sophie Ellis-Bextors third album.

"tripping the light fantastic" is also the name of a track on electronica album IMA, by BT

also in Mel Brooks' musical The Producers, there is a lyric and to trip the light fantastic we picked dancers who were spastic Also mentioned in the song "Holly" by Republica.

Psych - Season 6 Episode 14: Autopsy Turvy. Whip Chatterly, Gus and Shaun walk into a club and Whip says, "Gentlemen, we are standing in a retro dime-a-dance hall, one of the last of its kind. Here, regular fellows can dress up like servicemen on leave from the 1930's and offer up a coupon to trip the light fantastic with one of these alluring and voluptuous women." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisjburt (talk • contribs) 18:34, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Book references
"The Light Fantastic" is a book bt Terry Pratchett. I haven't read it (yet), but does this have anything to do with "tripping the light fantastic? Or is it irrelevant? --Fantasylover12 20:43, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

For what it's worth: "trip the light fantastic" is used in a poem by Tennessee Williams I read many years ago (can't remember which one). And the phrase "trip along on a light, fantastic foot" is found in a poem by Sir Walter Scott (which I also can't remember).

Category for etymology?
Etymology is one of the most agreeable of the quiet avocations. Not many of Wikipedia's articles deal with it. Wikipedia has a mechanism called Categories that link together articles having a common theme. I'm not sure if there is a Category for etymology. If so, this article should belong. If not, the category ought to be added. David spector (talk) 19:02, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Dark fantastic
it appears that the common use of this phrase is likely derived from light fantastic. I plan to create a disambig for dark fantastic, and will link. it may verge on original research to link them, but i think its safe as long as i just put in the See also section.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 03:04, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Exhaustive list?
Groove Armada: Groove is on has "Trip the light fantastic disco show" as its second line and it repeated during the song. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.100.218.232 (talk) 18:21, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

The groove armada reference should be included in the main article. I also think that the song "Trip the light" by Garry Schyman should be included. It is a shorter version (lacks "fantastic") but is clearly a reference to the same overall idea. The song is used in the latest "where in the hell is Matt?" video. This expression will live on on the legs of that reference alone. It should most definitely not be deleted as an editor has suggested. A. Kriegbaum (talk) 18:10, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Elaborate on examples in History
To say that the phrase resembles something from The Tempest and not provide that phrase leaves the reader wondering what the phrase in The Tempest is. Please elaborate on any examples provided.

While possibly relevant for explaining previous usage of Milton's phrase, I don't support the current article wording that the phrase from The Tempest 'tripping on his Toe' (discussed in the reference http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010320) is a 'somewhat similar phrase' as 'Tripping the Light Fantastic'. To me these are not similar. I suggest this be reworded or removed. Roughana (talk) 04:09, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Another place to find "Trip the light fantastic"
George Friedrich Handel wrote a song from his Opera "L'allegro" called "Come and trip it." The music for this is available in the music book, 45 Arias from Opera and Oratorios for voice and piano edited by Sergius Kagen and published by International Music Company, NYC. The song according to (http://www.answers.com/topic/trip-the-light-fantastic) was written in 1632. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Itasara (talk • contribs) 01:44, 4 June 2014 (UTC)

Requested move 29 July 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: consensus to move the phrase to Trip the light fantastic and the disambiguation page to Trip the Light Fantastic at this time, per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 10:01, 5 August 2018 (UTC)

– I think this is a pretty open-and-shut case of WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, as all of the entries in the disambiguation page are seemingly named after the phrase.  Lazz _R  14:46, 29 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Trip the light fantastic (phrase) → Trip the light fantastic
 * Trip the light fantastic → Trip the light fantastic (disambiguation)
 * Agreed. The case seems inarguable to me. Darorcilmir (talk) 18:05, 29 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Comment - the disambiguation page could be moved to a capitalized "Trip the Light Fantastic", since all the other things (a majority of items) on the page are capitalized as such. Paintspot Infez (talk) 20:24, 29 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Support first as only title using lower case. Move dab page to Trip the Light Fantastic per Paintspot since the other titles are upper-cased. Station1 (talk) 06:22, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Support first, Move dab page to Trip the Light Fantastic per WP:DIFFCAPS.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 11:02, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Support and move the DAB to Trip the Light Fantastic per above.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 11:07, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Support but move the DAB to Trip the Light Fantastic -- Netoholic @ 11:35, 30 July 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The Message
Just paid attention to the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five classic's lyrics and noticed the phrase appearing there as well. "Said she'll dance the tango, skip the light fandango". Since a Google search only brings up lyric pages that won't be accepted as references, I hope someone else can add that to the article. Jules TH 16 (talk) 20:44, 18 March 2024 (UTC)