Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

#1

Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 12:00am

With geniuses like Sondheim and J.R. Brown writing clever and meaningful lyrics, surely you've become familiar with a "new" word thanks to a lyricist.

Examples for me (mostly from high school when I started listening to cast recordings) include:

Assuage: Sweeney Todd
Ablutions: Sweeney Todd
Capricious: Aspects of Love
Tsurrus: Last Five Years (my most recent de-ignorant-ing)

Yours?

Updated On: 4/20/08 at 12:00 AM

#2

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 12:10am

ALSO:

Edited to add "phrases."

I'd never heard "at sixes and sevens" before I first heard Evita in high school. There are others, but it's late and we just got back from a wedding.

(PS- I also learned "safe as houses" from a Depeche Mode song. Wasn't too familiar with many Britishisms before British music and BBC shows.)

#3

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:22am

illin' - RENT (not to mention countless street names for heroin)

calumnies - WICKED (it was one of my GRE words, but the lyric helped me remember it)

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Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."

#4

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:44am

I'ma - from Little Shop of Horrors. "I'ma run down to Schmendrik's, get somethin' to eat."

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"You mean what was the best picture of the year or what did they pick as the best picture of the year?" - California Suite

#5

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 2:07am

Spelling Bee

Lugubrious
Hasenpheffer

and MANY others. I stmpped people at hangman when I was in 6th grade. I wanted to see who would fall for it.

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He's a faker, and you've been taken in by his con. And in doing so, you are enabling him. He is doing more damage to aspergers than papa's words ever could. -Chane/Liverpool on me having asperger syndrome.

#6

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 2:20am

Oh, Snapeth.
Huzzah!
True dat, sister Clio.
Bitch, I don't know your life.

Not a day goes by without a Xanadu line working into my vocab...

#7

Posted: 4/20/08 at 2:27am

Updated On: 5/6/09 at 02:27 AM

#8

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 2:40am

Really interesting thread! Unfortunetaly I cant think of any now...

But I will think of a million the day it comes out

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"I told you, NO Rodgers and Hammerstein!"- Bart Simpson

#9

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 2:42am

no good deed goes unpunished. "Wicked"

#10

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 3:20am

The Music Man has given me "Jeely Kly", "Great Honk" and "phraseology".

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"Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"

#11

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 4:07am

I say "phraseology" quite often myself

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"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".

#12

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 4:09am

Sorry...board hiccup caused a double post

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"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".

Updated On: 4/20/08 at 04:09 AM

#13

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 9:34am

Schadenfreude

#14

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 9:38am

When people invite me to a social gathering I'd rather not attend but have no valid excuse to avoid, I have been known to refuse by saying "I have to finish the hat". It's nice to have an excuse that sounds plausible if you're not listening properly, or too implausible to question if you are. ^_^

Also I never came across the words crepuscule/crepuscular before Spelling Bee, now they're everywhere!

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Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

#15

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 9:49am

I too find myself saying "phraseology" a lot. And whenever I say 15 minutes, I have to say it exactly like Robert Preston...Fiffftteeeen minutes.

Also, I've always thought that "jugie boogy boy" was an interesting word choice for drugs.(Rent)

#16

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 9:56am

Imagine my extreme happiness when the first analogy on the SAT involved the word "garish."

#17

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 9:58am

That's funny-- I didn't learn the word 'schadenfreude' from Ave Q, but I did finally learn how to pronounce it correctly.

#18

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 10:13am

Avenue Q helped me learn how to spell schadenfreude. Lots of musicals are helpful for spelling; I can also do supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and pretty much anything from Spelling Bee. :3

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Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

#19

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 10:22am

I learned about lots of people/things from La Vie Boheme. When I first heard the song (11 years ago or so), I basically had no idea about anyone/anything mentioned in this song--- I quite innocent the first time I saw the show. As I finished high school and college, I came across the names one by one in my educational/real life experience. And said more than once --- "hey, that's in Rent!" Rent is definitely a show you can grow with.

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So, that was the Drowsy Chaperone. Oh, I love it so much. I know it's not a perfect show...but it does what a musical is supposed to do. It takes you to another world, and it gives you a little tune to carry with you in your head for when you're feeling blue. Ya know?

#20

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:34pm

Wicked- Festivate, Outuendo and so many more.

#21

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:38pm

Updated On: 5/6/09 at 01:38 PM

#22

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:42pm

I can't think of any actual words or phrases, but I did learn most of my Bible stories thanks to ALW.

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"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

#23

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:44pm

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" - MY FAIR LADY

I used to stand in front of the stereo 'conducting' the soundtrack when I was four - and saying this line along with Mr. Harrison was my favorite part.

#24

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 1:48pm

schaudenfraude- avenue q =)

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"I told you, NO Rodgers and Hammerstein!"- Bart Simpson

#25

re: Words/phrases you learned from musicals?

Posted: 4/20/08 at 2:06pm

Ecdysiast....Gypsy.

"Assuage: Sweeney Todd"
That's also in Candide in Glitter and Be Gay.

Updated On: 4/20/08 at 02:06 PM