Locky's English Playground: 2018

Tuesday, 4 September 2018

Vocabulary: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious IS NOT Meaningless

Image from RTHK

Came across a page on RTHK called 楊官教英文 ----- 楊官信箱 and I was randomly reading the mailbox questions and answer. At first I thought it was pretty interesting until I saw one reply, and I thought I have to write something about it. I have captured the question and answer in the image below:

Image from RTHK

Is it a word that really carries "no meaning"? 

First, let's familiarise ourselves with this song from the 1964 Disney musical film Mary Poppins.

and the lyrics go,

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

It's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it
Is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough
You'll always sound precocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I

Because I was afraid to speak
When I was just a lad
Me father gave me nose a tweak
And told me I was bad
But then one day I learned a word
That saved me aching nose
The biggest word you ever heard
And this is how it goes

Oh, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it
Is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough
You'll always sound precocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I

He traveled all around the world and everywhere he went
He'd use his word and all would say there goes a clever gent
When dukes and Maharajahs pass the time of day with me
I say my special word and then they ask me out to tea

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it
Is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough
You'll always sound precocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I

So when the cat has got your tongue
There's no need for dismay
Just summon up this word
And then you've got a lot to say
But better use it carefully
Or it can change your life

For example
Yes?
One night I said it to me girl and now me girls my wife
Oh! And a lovely thing she is too. he he he

She's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

by Richard Sherman / Robert Sherman

From the song, we can tell that this exceptionally lengthy word definitely carries a meaning, and it is definitely a pattern-reforming creativity (Carter, 2004) of neologism which comes from a combination of multiple words (Law, in press).

Image from OED

While the Oxford Online Dictionary has the answer, meaning extraordinarily good; wonderful, and mentioning that the word first appeared in the 1940s, that is 24 years prior to the release of the song and film, it still does not say what the neologism is comprised of. 

Turns out, Wikipedia has the answer. The page cited Lederer (1998)'s analysis of the word, 

An analysis of the individual word elements produces another definition. Richard Lederer, in his book Crazy English, defines the word roots as follows: super- "above", cali- "beauty", fragilistic- "delicate", expiali- "to atone", and -docious "educable", which, he writes, produces an overall meaning of "atoning for extreme and delicate beauty [while being] highly educable"

And there we have it! Clear as day! "Atoning for extreme and delicate beauty [while being] highly educable". Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious IS NOT Meaningless!

References: 

楊官教英文 ----- 楊官信箱

http://rthk9.rthk.hk/elearning/yangtl/mailbox_p04.htm

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (from Mary Poppins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rihNRTTcztQ

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious | Definition of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in English by Oxford Dictionaries

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Carter, R. (2004). Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk. London: Routledge.

Law, L. (in press). Creativity & Multimodality: an Analytical Framework for Creativity in Multimodal Texts (AFCMT). Linguistics and Human Sciences. Equinox.

Lederer, Richard (1998). Crazy English : the ultimate joy ride through our language. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0671023232.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/as-clear-as-day

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Auto & Video: My First Ever Tesla Model S Loaner Experience P85+

Image from Locky's English Playground

My First Ever Tesla Model S Loaner Experience P85+. It is a little late to review an older version of the Tesla Model S, but this car is still a beast! My referral code: http://ts.la/lokhei21

Monday, 26 February 2018

Grammar & Games: My Kahoot! Games for Your Practice

Subject-Verb Agreement with Famous Quotes
Image from Locky's English Playground

Kahoot has been such a big hit in the classrooms around the globe. I have also created several Kahoot exercises for those of you who would like to test yourselves out.

Choose Preview
Image from Locky's English Playground

Use the 'Preview' mode to play these games and see how well you do! The links are listed below. Have fun learning and playing!

Resources:
Subject-Verb Agreement with Famous Quotes
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/cb0787fa-d8ca-4e78-b0ae-7f14832a63ee

Parallel Structure with Famous Quotes
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/93d36a1d-9b1c-4df8-9322-bbabeb3f6235

Sentence Structure with Famous Quotes
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/d4f0bbc3-cbab-48e0-9d27-66e3f65e4018

Synonyms and Antonyms for IELTS Preparatory
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/a12700ba-8b77-416b-8c8a-9bf65aeeb39a

Monday, 12 February 2018

Living: 10 Tips for Spring-Cleaning Your Thermo Ventilator

Image from Locky's English Playground

This is not a guide on how to clean your thermo ventilator, but it does come with some tips, in case you are planning to clean it for the Chinese New Year.

Tip 1 is always : cut off the power supply to the appliance, unless you are Thor -- the God of sparks (It's a joke. Should be lightning).

Image from Locky's English Playground

Tip 2 :When you do take out all the screws, it is good put them in an orderly manner, make sure you don't mix up the screws for the casing with the ones found inside. For my case, I even use the laundry rail to help me support parts that are not fully removable.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Tip 3: Know what you need to clean and where you should start. If you get the order wrong, you might have to redo the cleaning all over again.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Tip 4: Pay attention to any hidden dust, unscrew more parts if necessary. Being lazy surely saves you time, but not cleaning certain parts will definitely cause dust to build up, and over time you will either have to pay more money because of the decrease in efficiency of the ventilator, or the ventilator breaks and you will have to get a new one, which probably is the last thing you want to do if you want to save money.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Tip 5: Beware of falling objects. I was completely unaware of the unstable roof and a piece of aluminium cover fell right before my face. Luckily, it didn't even touch me a bit, but had the corner fell onto my head, I could have ended up with a couple of stitches on my head.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Tip 6: Have another pair of eyes to monitor your work, if possible. For my case, I thought I was okay all by myself until this huge piece of metal fell from the top.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Tip 7: Know the tools you need. Small but long toothbrush is best for cleaning dust, but a vacuum cleaner is a must if you don't want to suck all the dust into your lungs!