# "Pompatus", "Shamone", etc.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 4, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124 "2016-02-04T04:09:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/1 "2016-02-04T04:09:48Z")
There’s a line in the Foo Fighters’ “Big Me” that made me recently search for the lyrics…
When I talk about it
_Aries or treasons
All renew_
Although the rest of the song is practically undecipherable as well, at least it appears to me to have meaning to the the author (Grohl?)…but “Aries or treasons all renew”?
The Master speaks of “The Pompatus of Love” [here](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/972/in-steve-millers-the-joker-what-is-the-pompatus-of-love), and Michael Jackson’s “shamone” line in "Bad"is fairly well documented…looking for other examples of throwaway words or lines that are supposed to sound as if they mean something, (so “Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong” and the like are not good examples), but really point to the lyricist’s lack of effort or imagination, and is trying to put one by the listener.
Also, stream of consciousness lyrics (“Blue Jay Way”, “I Am the Walrus”) or works by Captain Beefheart don’t count either. Different animal. I’m talking about songs that are supposed to appear to make sense.
Got any good ones?
---
### Author:  [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/2 "2016-02-04T04:39:47Z")
[**“If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow…”**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW_7XBrDBAA)
The queen-mother of the subject at hand.
---
### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/3 "2016-02-04T14:14:54Z")
Well, here is the first verse of “Niki Hoeky”:
Down in Louisiana, down in Cajun land
Folks got something goin’, goes something like
Folks come an git’cha tootsie, I wants to t’tie ya puppe’tame me
Gonna dig ya on a scoobydoo, gonna gitcha on’a scubadie
Ooh boog-a-boo you, you, ooh boog-a-boo you, little boy
Get hip to the consultation of the boolawee
This is, however, most likely an example of something different than what you’re looking for – lyrics that are mostly in standard English, but include words that are in a different language, dialect, or idiolect that most listeners wouldn’t know.
One example that might fit your definition is the line “The movement you need is on your shoulder” from “Hey Jude”. When Paul McCartney first played the song to John Lennon, the story goes, he apologized for that line, saying it was just a placeholder and he would take it out when he thought of something better. Lennon replied, “You won’t, y’know. It’s the best line in the song.”
---
### Author:  [@Salad\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salad_Smell)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/4 "2016-02-04T14:22:02Z")
I’ve always thought the verses of “Surrender” by Cheap Trick sounded like they were written via Mad Libs or an algorithm.
Whatever happened to all this season’s
Losers of the year?
Every time I got to thinking
Here’d they disappear?
But when I woke up, Mom and Dad
Are rolling on the couch
Rolling numbers, rock and rollin’
Got my KISS records out
---
### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/5 "2016-02-04T14:22:59Z")
There’s another lyric that the Master spoke to, in **Muddy Waters’** _Hoochie Coochie Man_
[QUOTE=Muddy Waters]
I got a black cat bone
I got a mojo too
I got the **Johnny Concheroo**
I’m gonna mess with you
[/QUOTE]
[Bolding mine]
I believe Cecil said it referred to a hex/charm/mojo bag that could be used against people in a voodoo/santeria sort of way, but it still sounds out there to a listener who doesn’t know the Straight Dope!
ETA: for that matter, being a “Hoochie Coochie” Man kinda fits the OP. It clearly means he is a Playa with the ladies, but has a few other boasts, too, but the phrase itself is not common.
I will have to think of others.
---
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/6 "2016-02-04T14:29:36Z")
I think Ima gonna dust my broom.
---
### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/7 "2016-02-04T14:32:36Z")
Bush. From _Fireball_:
> [@](#):
>
> Hot fire rising
> Inferamin creatures dodging mudslides
> Trying to stay alive
> Picture your cell phone
> Find cover in time
> To marry yourself
> Before you die
I’ve searched around the web several times and “inferamin” seems to be a made-up word.
---
### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/8 "2016-02-04T14:32:40Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#):
>
> The Master speaks of “The Pompatus of Love” [here](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/972/in-steve-millers-the-joker-what-is-the-pompatus-of-love), and Michael Jackson’s “shamone” line in "Bad"is fairly well documented…looking for other examples of throwaway words or lines that are supposed to sound as if they mean something, (so “Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong” and the like are not good examples), but really point to the lyricist’s lack of effort or imagination, and is trying to put one by the listener.
Well, that certainly testifies to Steve Miller’s lack of effort or imagination, but the word in the lyric he ineptly ripped off of Vernon Green, “puppetutes,” turns out to very much mean something (“a secret paper-doll fantasy figure”). That and “pizmotality” are great poetic coinages.
---
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/9 "2016-02-04T14:39:58Z")
> [@Salad\_Smell](#):
>
> I’ve always thought the verses of “Surrender” by Cheap Trick sounded like they were written via Mad Libs or an algorithm.
>
> Whatever happened to all this season’s
>
> Losers of the year?
>
> Every time I got to thinking
>
> Here’d they disappear?
>
> But when I woke up, Mom and Dad
>
> Are rolling on the couch
>
> Rolling numbers, rock and rollin’
>
> Got my KISS records out
Isn’t this verse the crux of the song? His parents seem square but after dark they’re partying to his Kiss records.
---
### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/10 "2016-02-04T14:43:17Z")
John The Conqueror Root.
> **[High John the Conqueror Root in Magic Spells](http://www.luckymojo.com/johntheconqueror.html)**
>
> Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by
> catherine yronwode: a practical manual of hoodoo, conjure, rootwork,
> magic spells, rituals, root doctoring, and African American folk magic.
---
### Author:  [@Salad\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salad_Smell)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/11 "2016-02-04T14:50:41Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> Isn’t this verse the crux of the song? His parents seem square but after dark they’re partying to his Kiss records.
Sure, it makes sense contextually but it reads like it was translated from Klingon.
---
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/12 "2016-02-04T14:57:35Z")
Well, the end credits song for “WKRP In Cincinnati” surely win this award, because of course they are gibberish.
---
### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/13 "2016-02-04T15:03:01Z")
> [@bobot](#):
>
> John The Conqueror Root.
> [High John the Conqueror Root in Magic Spells](http://www.luckymojo.com/johntheconqueror.html)
Yep. I know what he was saying, and I know that the Google Lyrics I pasted in don’t get the spelling right. My only point is that it is one of those terms you don’t hear and jump out if you take the time to understand the lyrics.
One that does not apply to the OP but I thought it did for years is **Loser** by Beck. I never cared enough to look up the lyrics, but the first line of the chorus was gobbledy-gook to my ears. It was until much more recently that I looked it up and saw it was “Soy un perdedor” which is “I’m a loser” in Spanish.
---
### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/14 "2016-02-04T15:04:20Z")
Was it ever established that “colitas” is a word? As in “warm smell of colitas”? Also, is “reet” a slang word I never learned? Is “new skank, so reet” too hip for my lame brain?
---
### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/15 "2016-02-04T15:23:34Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Also, is “reet” a slang word I never learned? Is “new skank, so reet” too hip for my lame brain?
“Reet” is old jazz-age slang. It’s simply a corruption of “right,” as in “All right!” A zoot suit had to have a “reet pleat.” Solid, Jackson.
---
### Author:  [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/16 "2016-02-04T15:26:32Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> I think Ima gonna dust my broom.
Not sure why one would dust their broom (unless they’re taking it with them?), but I always took this as a poetic way of saying “I’m leaving for good”. [Wiki confirmation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_My_Broom)…
---
### Author:  [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/17 "2016-02-04T15:28:45Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Was it ever established that “colitas” is a word? As in “warm smell of colitas”?
Thought I read that it referred to “colas”, or marijuana buds.
---
### Author:  [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/18 "2016-02-04T16:10:59Z")
Ditto – “colitas” = “little buds”. They’re smoking weed.
---
### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/19 "2016-02-04T17:12:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> There’s another lyric that the Master spoke to, in **Muddy Waters’** _Hoochie Coochie Man_
>
> [Bolding mine]
>
> I believe Cecil said it referred to a hex/charm/mojo bag that could be used against people in a voodoo/santeria sort of way, but it still sounds out there to a listener who doesn’t know the Straight Dope!
>
> ETA: for that matter, being a “Hoochie Coochie” Man kinda fits the OP. It clearly means he is a Playa with the ladies, but has a few other boasts, too, but the phrase itself is not common.
>
> I will have to think of others.
Yes, when you get into the blues, you encounter a lot of odd words and phrases that are not standard English. Like “nation sack” (a mojo bag used by women to dominate men) and “drylongso” (various definitions including “nothing unusual”) in “Come On in My Kitchen”.
Another good place to find stuff like this is in the lyrics of Dr. John.
---
### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124/20 "2016-02-04T19:42:04Z")
It’s a normal, if rare word, but I am amused that I have heard at least 3 songs that use the word “sacroiliac.”
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> There’s another lyric that the Master spoke to, in **Muddy Waters’** _Hoochie Coochie Man_
[Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/284/what-is-the-john-the-conqueroo-made-famous-by-blues-singers) and [Wikipedia on John the Conqueroo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Conqueror).
> [@Mixolydian](#):
>
> Thought I read that it referred to “colas”, or marijuana buds.
Yeah, [also from the Master](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1053/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean).
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pompatus-shamone-etc/745124.md?page=2)