"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" ( ) is a song and single from the 1964

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musical film ''

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...

''. It was written by the

Sherman Brothers The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades in ...

, and sung by

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

and

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

. It also appears in the 2004 stage show version. Because ''Mary Poppins'' was a period piece set in 1910, songs that sounded similar to songs of the period were wanted. The movie version finished at #36 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Story context

The song occurs in the

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-drawing outing animated sequence, just after Mary Poppins wins a

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

. Flush with her victory, she is immediately surrounded by

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s who pepper her with questions and suggest that she is at a loss for words. Mary disagrees, saying that at least one word is appropriate for the situation, and begins the song.

Word meaning and general origin

The word is a compound word, and said by

Richard Lederer Richard Lederer (born May 26, 1938) is an American linguist, author, speaker, and teacher. He is best known for his books on the English language and on wordplay such as puns, oxymorons, and anagrams. He has been dubbed "the Wizard of Idiom," ...

in his book ''Crazy English'' to be made up of these words: super- "above", cali- "beauty", fragilistic- "delicate", expiali- "to atone", and -docious "educable", with all of these parts combined meaning "Atoning for being educable through delicate beauty." The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' first records the word (with a spelling of "supercaliflawjalisticexpialadoshus") in the column titled "A-muse-ings" by Helen Herman in the

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

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'', dated March 10, 1931. In the column, Herman states that the word "implies all that is grand, great, glorious, splendid, superb, wonderful". The word was popularized in the 1964 film ''

'', in which it is used as the title of a song and defined as "something to say when you have nothing to say". The

, 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 Double-talk is a form of speech in which inappropriate, invented, or nonsense words are interpolated into normal speech to give the appearance of knowledge, and thus confuse or amuse the audience. Vaudevillian Cliff Nazarro, for instance, would s ...

words as children. In another instance, they wrote:

When we were little boys in the mid-1930s, we went to a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains, where we were introduced to a very long word that had been passed down in many variations through many generations of kids. … The word as we first heard it was super-cadja-flawjalistic-espealedojus.

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meanwhile says it is "used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English." The word contains 34 letters.

Legal action

In 1965, the song was the subject of an unsuccessful

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

by songwriters

Gloria Parker Gloria Parker (née Rosenthal; August 20, 1921April 13, 2022) was an American musician and bandleader who had a radio show during the big band era. ''The Gloria Parker Show'' was broadcast nightly from 1950 to 1957, coast to coast on WABC. She ...

and Barney Young against Wonderland Music, Disney's music publishing subsidiary, and publisher of the song from the film. The plaintiffs alleged that it was a

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

of their 1949 song "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus". Also known as "The Super Song", it was recorded by

Alan Holmes Alan Holmes is a musician, artist and record producer, based in north Wales. Although he began his musical career in the late 1960s in childhood beat group The Insects, he first came to prominence in The Zuggs (in 1979), followed by A Silly Tree ...

and His New Tones for

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, with vocal by Hal Marquess and the Holmes Men, and music and lyrics by Patricia Smith (a Gloria Parker pen name) and Don Fenton. Another recording of "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus", performed by The Arabian Knights and published by Gloro Records, was released in 1951. The Disney publishers won the lawsuit in part because they produced affidavits showing that "variants of the word were known ... many years prior to 1949".

Backwards version

During the song, Poppins says, "You know, you can say it backwards, which is 'dociousaliexpilistic-fragilcalirupus', but that's going a bit too far, don't you think?" (To which Dick Van Dyke replies, "Indubitably.") Andrews' husband, Tony Walton, who also designed the sets and costumes, came up with the backwards version. Her claim was not about ''spelling'' it backwards, but rather ''saying'' it backwards; in other words, 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 modifies "super" to "rupus", it comes close to what Poppins said in the film. However, when the word is spelled backwards it actually becomes "suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus", which is different. In the

stage musical Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, the word's actual spelling reversal is used, while rapper

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

said "docious-ali-expi-listic-fragi-cali-super", which is the full prosody version, in his song "Buck 50" released on his album ''

Supreme Clientele ''Supreme Clientele'' is the second studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah, released on February 8, 2000 by Epic Records. The album showcases Ghostface's signature up-tempo, stream-of-consciousness rhyme style, a ...

''.

Chart history

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" was released as a single, achieving a measure of commercial success on the U.S. music charts. It peaked at number 66 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It did much better on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, reaching number 14.

Certifications

Stage musical

In the

, Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael Banks to visit Mrs Corry's shop to buy "an ounce of conversation", only to find that Mrs Corry has run out of conversation. She does, however have some letters, and Jane and Michael each pick out seven, with Mary choosing one also. As Bert, Mary and the rest of the ensemble struggle to create words out of the fifteen letters, Mary reminds them that they can always use the same letter more than once, and creates the word (and song) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. In addition, the cast spells it out in a kind of gesture that was suggested by choreographer Stephen Mear, whose partner is deaf.

Other references

English yachtsman

Rodney Pattisson Rodney Stuart Pattisson, MBE (born 5 August 1943) is a British yachtsman. He is a double Olympic gold medalist in sailing won at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and 1972 Munich Olympics both in the Flying Dutchman class. He also won a silver m ...

won three Olympic medals in sailing during the Games of 1968 (gold),

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

(gold) and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

(silver) in a

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...

called ''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'' written in large colorful waves on the hull. Japanese rock band

Boøwy Boøwy ( ; stylized as BOØWY) was a Japanese rock band formed in Takasaki, Gunma in 1981. The classic lineup of vocalist Kyosuke Himuro, guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei, bassist Tsunematsu Matsui, and drummer Makoto Takahashi reached legendary status ...

included a song called "SUPER-CALIFRAGILISTIC-EXPIARI-DOCIOUS" that was written by their guitarist

Tomoyasu Hotei , also known simply as Hotei ( ), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and actor. With a career spanning more than 35 years, Hotei claims record sales of over 40 million copies and has collaborated with acclaimed a ...

on their 1986 number one album ''Beat Emotion''. Punk Band

The Vandals The Vandals are an American punk rock band, established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, two live albums, and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped ...

covered the song on their 1995 album

Live Fast, Diarrhea ''Live Fast, Diarrhea'' is the fourth studio album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1995 by Nitro Records. It was the band's first album for Nitro, a label started and co-owned by Dexter Holland and Greg Kriese ...

. In February 2000,

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

defeated Glasgow's

Celtic FC The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

3–1 in the third round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,The Sun''. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' rated it as number 5 in six of the greatest football headlines. One

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on the word jokes that

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

was a "super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis". In 2016,

Randy Rainbow Randy Stewart Rainbow (born July 6, 1981) is a Grammy nominated American comedian and singer, best known for spoof interviews that blend political satire and musical parodies from a progressive perspective. Early life Randy Rainbow was born ...

created a parody video of the song, in which he called (then-candidate)

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

"super callous fragile egocentric braggadocious", "super careless fragile ego extra braggadocious", "super sleazy fabricating sexist and obnoxious", "superficial chauvinistic arrogant and thoughtless", and "super calculated adolescent braggadocious". In 2017,

was selected to receive an award for television excellence from BAFTA, at which time he said "I appreciate this opportunity to apologise to the members of Bafta for inflicting on them the most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema." A chief executive of Bafta responded, "We look forward to his acceptance speech in whatever accent he chooses on the night. We have no doubt it will be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." In 2018,

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

manager

Pablo Machín Pablo Machín Díez (; born 7 April 1975) is a Spanish manager. he is the currently head coach La Liga club of Elche. Playing career Born in Soria, Machín was a CD Numancia youth graduate. Despite making five first team appearances during the ...

was asked to describe his club, using only one word. He responded "Ok, I'll use the longest word I know: ''supercalifragilisticoespialidoso''". The song, '愛Dee'(Ai Dee) by Youtuber Mitchie M contains the compound word during a rap part, and in 2021, a cover was sung by

Hololive is a virtual YouTuber agency owned by Japanese tech entertainment company Cover Corporation. In addition to acting as a multi-channel network, Hololive Production also handles merchandising especially in music production and concert organizati ...

's virtual idols Momosuzu Nene and Pavolia Reine, with the latter singing the word during the rap part. In 2021, the game show ''

Press Your Luck ''Press Your Luck'' is an American television game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on CBS daytime on September 19, 1983, and ended on September 26, 1986. The format is a retooling of an earlier Carruthers productio ...

'' introduced a Whammy animation spoofing the song, with "Whammy Poppins" singing "Supercalifragilistic-give me all your money!" In 2022, the word was also rhymed by American rapper Sosamann in his song entitled 'supercalifragilistic'. On September, Japanese boyband

JO1 is a Japanese boy band formed through the reality competition show '' Produce 101 Japan''. The group is composed of eleven members: Issei Mamehara, Ren Kawashiri, Takumi Kawanishi, Shosei Ohira, Shion Tsurubo, Ruki Shiroiwa, Keigo Sato, Syoya Ki ...

pre-released the song "SuperCali" from their upcoming EP single, ''Midnight Sun''. The title is abbreviation of "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", which was introduced as the word that "makes infinite possibilities come true" at their tour.

References

External links

"Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious"
at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, Department of Health & Human Services (NIEHS). (Lyrics and mp3 audio clip).
''Mary Poppins'' (1964)
at ''Reel Classics''; features "Multimedia Clips": incl
''Mary Poppins'' Highlights: "Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious!"
{{Authority control 1964 songs 1964 singles 1964 neologisms Julie Andrews songs Dick Van Dyke songs Long words Male–female vocal duets Nonce words Patter songs Songs about language Songs from Mary Poppins Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs written by the Sherman Brothers Words originating in fiction