# Was "supercalifragilisticexpealidocious" a hooker code? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574 "2001-01-05T15:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fatcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fatcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatcat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/1 "2001-01-05T15:13:41Z")
Help me prove my boyfriend wrong! My boyfriend, bless his little heart, really likes (and seems to trust) Maxim magazine. According to Maxim, the word “supercalifragilisticexpealidocious” (sp?) was once a code word between coal miners and prostitutes in (I think) Scotland. If the coal miner said “supercali…” the prostitute knew that meant something like “Give me the works.” I wish I could provide the exact blurb from the magazine about this, but it’s not on their website and I refuse to buy the magazine. I always thought the word was made up by the author of Mary Poppins. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/2 "2001-01-05T15:36:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fatcat \* > \*\*Help me prove my boyfriend wrong! > > I always thought the word was made up by the author of Mary Poppins. 🙂 \*\* You’re the one who’s right. Sort of. It was first used as the title of an unpublished song, _Supercalafajalistickespialadojus_ by Parker & Young in 1949. Bear in mind, _Maxim_ is hardly an authority on etymology. They’re an authority on showing girls who are so skinny you can feel their ribs by running your fingers across the page–in their underwear. They should stick to that–and dirty jokes. ---
**Author:** ![fatcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fatcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatcat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/3 "2001-01-05T15:56:47Z")
Thanks, **Blessedwolf**. I am well aware that Maxim is not an authority on etymology (or anything else, for that matter) and I wanted to use this opportunity to prove that to my Maxim-lovin’ boyfriend. I will try to do more research myself on that song and what may have come out of it. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/4 "2001-01-05T16:15:17Z")
I read that article. It threw me at first, but judging by the other revelations that piece made, it was fairly obviously a joke. Some of the others were rather outlandish, but the only one I recall offhand was the fairly tame story of 101 Dalmatians being based on an Italian horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/5 "2001-01-05T16:25:29Z")
thanx for changing the thread title. I kept forgetting which one it was… ---
**Author:** ![fatcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fatcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatcat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/6 "2001-01-05T16:35:49Z")
> [@](#): > > - originally posted by waterj2\* > I read that article. It threw me at first, but judging by the other revelations that piece made, it was fairly obviously a joke. Some of the others were rather outlandish, but the only one I recall offhand was the fairly tame story of 101 Dalmatians being based on an Italian horror movie. Thanks, **waterj2** , for pointing this out…now I guess I’ll chide my boyfriend for being gullible rather than for reading an inaccurate magazine! If anyone else out there disagrees that the article was a joke, please say so–otherwise, case closed. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-supercalifragilisticexpealidocious-a-hooker-code/48574/7 "2001-01-05T16:45:54Z")
Here’s little history associated with the word. Barney Young and Gloria Parker wrote the song “SUPERCALAFAJALISTICKESPEEALADOJUS” in 1949. Richard and Robert Sherman wrote the song “SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS” in 1964 for _Mary Poppins_. Young and Parker sued everyone associated with the Mary Poppins song in 1965. The lawsuit was LIFE MUSIC, INC. v. WONDERLAND MUSIC CO., UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, 241 F. Supp. 653; 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9716; 145 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 603, May 24, 1965. The plaintiffs lost. The ruling says: > [@](#): > > All variants of this tongue twister will hereinafter be referred to collectively as ‘the word.’ > … > there is no discernible similarity between the music of both songs > … > As far as the lyrics are concerned, both songs use some spelling of ‘the word.’ > … > Plaintiff Young claims to have coined ‘the word’ when he was a child in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1921, but asserts that it was ‘not known to the public until the publication of ‘plaintiffs’ [\*\*6] song’.’ n6 However, defendants have submitted several affidavits of presumably disinterested persons who swear that variants of ‘the word’ were known to and used by them many years prior to 1949, when plaintiffs claim to have written their song. n7 On the basis of the record before me, and for the purpose of this preliminary motion only, I find that ‘the word’ was known to and used by members of the public for many years prior to 1951, the date when plaintiffs allegedly published their song. Basically, “the word” was in use prior to either song being written, but no one really knows its origins. I think **waterj2** is probably right in that the article was a joke. It’s an awfully long way to ask for sex.