# Was the exclamation "oodalolly!" invented for Disney's Robin Hood?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-exclamation-oodalolly-invented-for-disneys-robin-hood/386725>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 4, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-exclamation-oodalolly-invented-for-disneys-robin-hood/386725 "2007-01-04T20:42:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-exclamation-oodalolly-invented-for-disneys-robin-hood/386725/1 "2007-01-04T20:42:32Z")

</div>

While watching Disney’s \*Robin Hood \*the other day, I noticed that the characters were constantly exclaiming “oodalolly!” It was used in the context of an exciting or surprising discovery. Also, it is part of the lyrics of the movie’s theme song:

_Robin Hood and Little John were walking through the forest, oodalolly, odalolly, golly what a day!_

Is this something that was a common phrase before or during the time of this movie (1973)? All of the hits when I have searched for it seem to be references to Disney’s _Robin Hood_. I’m sort of suspecting that the phrase was just made up for the movie, but I was wondering if anyone else had heard this phrase in other contexts.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-exclamation-oodalolly-invented-for-disneys-robin-hood/386725/2 "2007-01-04T20:44:04Z")

</div>

Most likely, made up. The OED has no listing for the word.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-exclamation-oodalolly-invented-for-disneys-robin-hood/386725/3 "2007-01-04T20:54:23Z")

</div>

The very name of that theme song is “Oo-de-lally.” Written and sung by 11-time Grammy winner Roger Miller (“King of the Road”). I think he wrote the song before the phrase was used in the dialog.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShirokuTheHusky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@ShirokuTheHusky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShirokuTheHusky)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-exclamation-oodalolly-invented-for-disneys-robin-hood/386725/4 "2016-06-25T23:49:15Z")

</div>

[![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/SHZlDxk.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/SHZlDxk)