I’m assuming she didn’t, and here’s another link to Eutychus’ Staff Report: Origin of Supercalifragilistic…
Eutychus
Yes I read your report. I didn’t just create my story when I got on the website. I did not find in the report that the Sherman’s had the word copyrighted in 1963.
Did you read my story, especially the details about the letter blocks? I thought you would be interested in the details of my story, especially when you said that I’m sure the word predates the Shermans. I have been trying to get my story out for the last 20 years.
I am a he as someone assumed I am a she.
Did YOU read the part whch stated undeniably that the word had been extant at <I>least</I> as early as 1949?
Look, you can <I>claim</I> anything you want, but the burden of proof is on you and so far any of your claims are pretty easily disproved.
I invented the word in 1741 by cutting out random letters from the original Declaration of Independence and tossing them up in the air. I have a Polaroid photo of this in a safe deposit box as proof.
You’re all way too late! I invented the word several thousand years ago. I encoded it into the words I dictated to Moses in the first five books of the Bible. All you need to to prove I am right is (1) a very sophisticated computer program and (2) a very vivid imagination.
That’s not true. If I recall, it was more of a group effort.
Welcome to the SDMB.
Is this concrete evidence that God has at least 68 personalities?
What, you haven’t heard of the Nine Billion Names of God?
Pleased to meet you, Jehovah 68.
Hmmm, yes I suppose technically several of my prophets helped to write the Bible, but it was I who originated it.
;j
As for my multiple personalities, Kat, at the last count I only had three, so I’m not sure who the other 65 are;)
My names? Yes actually more than 9 billion - probably an infinite number. But only one that matters “Jesus Christ”.
Originally posted by NYNJVATXPA
“I did a presentation on the word using my own flash cards in 1984 at the university of Texas and also coined another word that sounded like Hebrew, OXSKI-METCHA-DETCHA-TZALY-JIMOD- KADOSH- JITEPKU.”
I cannot believe this guy. I came up with OXSKI-METCHA-DETCHA-TZALY-JIMOD-KADOSH-JITEPKU in 1982 when I sat on my “Speak’n Spell” at the age of 7. My brother, who was 8 at the time, heard me saying it and asked me where I heard it. I told him I made it up, and he slapped me and said we’d both get beaten up at school if I kept talking total crap. Sheesh!
Will anyone bother to use their intelligence to follow how I created these words.
If you want to repeat my word, why don’t you make up your own, no matter how stupid you think it sounds.
To do so, you must follow these rules:
There must be seven little two syllable words making up one big word.
There must be 4 or 5 As and no Ns.
There must be 3 or 4 Os and no Bs.
There must be at least one C or P and not more than 4 Cs and Ps combined
There must be at least one D or not more than 4 Ds and no Qs.
There must be at least one E or R and not more than 4 Es and Rs combined.
There must be at least one F or S and not more than 4 Fs and Ss combined.
There must be at least one G or T and not more than 3 Gs and Ts combined.
There must be at least one H or U and not more than 3 Hs and Us combined.
There must be at least one I or V and not more than 3 Is and Vs combined.
There must be at least one J or W and not more than 3 Js and Ws combined.
There must be at least one K or X and not more than 3 Ks and Xs combined.
There must be at least one L or Y and not more than 3 Ls and Ys combined.
There must be at least one M or Z and not more than 3 Ms and Zs combined.
These rules are based on the letter combinations of what I had available and what I created the first time I created a big super word when I was 10, as my goal was to create the biggest word I can.
Maybe we can write computer programs to create the big 14 syllable words.
Here is my latest word, I just created:
SAMTA-FRIO-DRIXA-CELTOK-JAHAD-ZEKUW-SHAGOP
The word I created over 19 years ago, a variation of what I gave you last week.
OXSKI-METCHA-DECU-TZALY-JIMOD-GADOL-KADOSH
and the word I originally created
SUPA-CALO-FRAJA-LISTIC-EXPE-ALO-DOSHEZ
unless for some reason I made up a different word that sounded similiar, and was said at the junior high school the next couple of days and then someone heard a different word and started saying it in the neighborhood and at the other schools.
Perhaps I was reincarnated from before 1918 and carried the word in my unconscious memory.
Perhaps I heard it in my unconcious memory when I was 9 and then proceded to make it up when I was 10, and it was only a coincidence that I used this word since I had decided that the word I would create would have no Ns and Bs since, I wanted to maximize the use of the As and Os on the other side of the blocks.
Perhaps the person who claimed to make up a version of the word in 1949 or 1951 made up this story to try to extort 12 million dollars from the Disney company.
Perhaps the persons who told of hearing it earlier made up the story so that the other guys wouldn’t get 12 million dollars.
Is there a record that the Shermans had the word copyrighted in 1963, or perhaps they had it copyrighted in 1964 and paid someone off to record the copyright date as 1963. Sure, the Disney company wanted to maximize their profits and not give anybody credit for something they created and wasn’t already copyrighted. Kids say many things to each other and they don’t think about having them copyrighted. The Disney company surely didn’t want to find the people who created something they heard and used and they would not have to pay them any money.
The Disney company must have had it copyrighted quickl;y this quickly to avoid anyone elses claims.
When I created my word, if I had copied it down on paper exactly how I had it laid out on the floor in the basement of our house, then when it was being said, I would have showed the paper to my mother or my teacher or schoolmates. But I didn’t think at the time it would be said after a few days, as kids tend to spread the words or stories around and then it is forgotten several days later. But the word was spoken all over the neighborhood and the schools and nobody knew where it came from or who made it up.
If I wrote my word on paper and saved it, then I could have verified it as proof that I created it, after I made sure it was the same word. Then my proof and explanation about how it was created from the blocks, would have become a big story in a New York newspaper or I would have been invited to show how I did it on a TV show. I should have saved the proof of the word I wrote so it could have been verified. Perhaps I should have had the blocks pasted on something and had it on display somewhere.
Dear oh dear. :shakes head sadly:
When I was a child, I was convinced that I had made up the insult “prannock”. Now I discover that it’s in fairly common use in Northern England. Sometimes our memories can be a little “imaginative”, especially when we’re kids.
Having said that, NYNJVATXPA, your proof is so watertight that I think you’ve got grounds for a lawsuit against the Shermans. Go for it!
[Evil cackle]
I think most of us would vote for a variant of this, with the rules made up ex post facto. Our choices seem to be: (a) you’re making this all up and it’s a total put-on, or (b) you think you have a firm childhood memory of inventing this word.
Childhood memories are sticky things. Even adult memories, 40 years later, are dubious things. People have firmly “remembered” things that never happened, but they tell themselves the story often enough (or others tell them) that it becomes a “memory.”
If you heard a word and then later played around with letters and “invented” the same word, and if that word was popular among your friends because of the Disney movie, your child’s mind could very well have misremembered the time sequence.
The fact is that the Sherman word IS well documented, and that your story has no substantiation beyond your memory from 40 years ago. You will therefore understand our skepticism.
I have a bunch of blocks in front of me. They have pictures, though, not letters. Let me arrange them in various configurations and see what I come up with.
Hmm…
–shuffle shuffle–
Let’s see… How about like this… Or, no, like…
–shuffle shuffle–
Okay, cool. I just made up
BADGER BADGER BADGER BADGER BADGER BADGER MUSHROOM MUSHROOM
I’m a genius!
So if supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is actually a word, what does it mean??
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, Evana, glad to have you with us.
Check out the original Staff Report: Is “supercalifrag…” a real word? and you’ll see that it’s not actually a word. It’s a nonsense word, with origin at least as early as 1949, and almost certainly earlier, with no certain origin.
And, NYN, if you’re still reading this, please note that no one in the copyright infringement case disputed the existence of a 1951 version of a song based on that word. The Sherman Brothers won the case on the basis that the word was even OLDER than 1951.
I definitely planned and made up a made up a long word before I ever heard anybody saying it or any other long nonsense word. The rules about having one of each block and using no Bs and Ns to use the As and Os came prior to any word being said.
My word had 14 syllables and had a X and a Z because I did not use a M or a K. My word was repeated by my sister and was spread around school. I did not expect my word to be said and repeated by many people.
Weeks later, I heard SUPA-CALO-FRAJA-EXPE-ALO-DOSHEZ being said by everybody around. It certainly sounded like my word.
It was before it was in any movie or song. Kids even asked where it came from.
It was later that the Mary Poppins record and movie came out, which surprised my sister when she heard it on the radio.
I guess the only way to verify that this word was being said like wildfire is to track down kids (and parents) who lived in the Rosedale / Springfield Gardens / Laurelton vicinity or possibly other places in New York City. A survey would ask the question, where did you first hear of Supercalifrajalisticexpiealodocious,
any details first hearing it.
It would be hard to find the people because they all or almost all moved out the area as the area experienced almost a total ethnic and racial change. The existence of the Internet white pages would help, but there may be many people arounf with the same names.
Here are some of the things I made up before I made a 14 syllable nonsense word.
When I was eight, I made up the following song and made up piano notes for it:
December Day, Out to Play,
In the rain and snow.
It’s cold today, It’s cold today.
Let’s get our sleigh.
Christmas time, Hannukah time
And we are fine.
December day, Out to play.
In the rain and snow.
When I was 8 or 9, I made up the word “crussom”. It was a monster that lived in the woods.
Sometime when I was young (under 12), I made up the following refrain with a song. In recent years young boys, children or other relatives of female friends and co-workers get a thrill out me singing it to them:
Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb,
Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, There was a Frankenstein.
There was a Frankenstein. He came down the street, He came down the street, Frankenstein came down the street,
Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb,
Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, Frankenstein came down the street.
Verses four and five, begin with “There was a Frankenstein” and replace “Frankenstein came down the street” with “Frankenstein walked in the store”
Next two verses, repeat with “Frankenstein wrecked the store”
Next two verses, repeat with “Frankenstein got kicked out of the store”
There are several more verses with the last verse being"
Hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, hockin the hockin the ble-bleb, That was the end of Frankenstein.
When, I was turning eight, I began reading maps of New York City, and also the local area street map. I rode my bicycle down all the streets on the local map, until my mother locked up the bicycle. When I was nine, I was thew only one in the class who could put together the map of the states within three minutes.
NYN, this is not the proper forum for a recital of your art and music talents when you were in kindergarden through third grade. If you want to list off your wonderful skills as a prodigy child, go to the forum called “MPSIMS”. Consider this a formal warning from the Moderator of this forum.
You’ve told us your story about inventing supercalifragetc. You agree that it can’t be proven. Now listen carefully, I will repeat once more what’s been said above: The word was in use before 1949 – please note, 1949, that was before you were born. So you DID NOT invent it in 1964. Is that perfectly clear? If you want to continue to believe that you did, go right ahead, but don’t bother us with it any more.
Given your last post, I feel obliged to remind you that you must be over age 13 to participate in this Message Board.