Fritinancy: Itsapalooza!

July 23, 2008

Itsapalooza!

I read last week in Diary of a Crossword Fiend about a mini crossword tournament in Queens with the splendid name Lollapuzzoola '08. Shortly thereafter I noted PreFabapalooza, the headline on a set of links about prefabricated housing (thanks for the Del.icio.us link, Rowland Hobbs!). So I began thinking about all the ways in which lollapazoola has infiltrated our vocabularies.

Now, it may be that the only lollapalooza you've heard of is Lollapalooza, the American music festival first held in 1991. (It's taking place this year in Chicago's Grant Park, August 1 through 3.) According to a Wikipedia entry, Jane's Addiction singer Perry Ferrell--who conceived and created the festival--chose the name after hearing it used in a Three Stooges film.

But the Stooges didn't invent "lollapalooza"; it was already well entrenched in American vocabularies by the 1930s. The cartoonist Rube Goldberg introduced a female character named Lala Palooza in 1936. Going back further, there's an 1898 citation from The Sporting News (discovered here):

He is saying his team next season will contain a whole lot of lalapaloosas --" "What is a lalapaloosa?" "A lalapaloosa, my son, is a crackerjack."

Webster's Third International Dictionary gives the preferred spelling as "lalapalooza," and defines it as "something superior or unusual; an outstanding example." The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary prefers "lallapaloosa," but I'm going with the American Heritage Dictionary, which opts for "lollapalooza." All three sources say "origin unknown." However, in The American Language, published in 1921, H.L Mencken took a stab at an etymology:

Lallapalooza is also probably an Irish loan-word, though it is not Gaelic. It apparently comes from allay-foozee, a Mayo provincialism, signifying a sturdy fellow. Allay-foozee, in its turn, comes from the French allez-fusil, meaning "Forward the muskets!"

Au contraire, says DGW, commenting on the Phrase Finder bulletin board:

I doubt Mencken's story. My casual guess is that "lollapalooza" is a frivolous expansion of "lulu" in the same sense (which dates from at least as early as 1857) (there were other equivalents, "lolly", "la-la", etc.). But where is the evidence, for Mencken's theory or mine?

After capital-L Lollapalooza caught on, -palooza began floating free. The Urban Dictionary treats palooza as an independent word whose top definition is:

A crazy fuckin party whose purpose is to re-release an indivivual [sic] back into the world of dating when their significant other dumps them, ending a long term relationship.

Full credit, if you can call it that, probably goes to the 2003 movie Old School, in which Mitch, the character played by Luke Wilson, throws a "Mitch-a-Palooza" after being dumped.

And today? Lotsa paloozas. Here are some that grabbed my attention. The most memorable rely on reduplication--repeated syllables or sounds.

Poleapalooza, a pole-dancing competiton held annually in Las Vegas. (In the video, don't you love the way Miss Poleapalooza 2008 carefully wipes down the poles with a dustrag, which she then tucks into her briefs? Sweet.)

Lobsterpalooza, "the first and only festival in Nova Scotia"--a masterpiece of underachiever sloganeering.

PyroPalooza, "the largest private display of pyrotechnics you're ever likely to see!" Hosted by the Pyro Dudes.

Snooze-a-Palooza, a book of slumber-party ideas, from the American Girl money machine.

Ooza Palooza, "the party place for kids." (It's a catchy name, but I'd hesitate before putting "ooze" and "kids" in the same phrase.)

PenisPalooza, a "gay reality porn party." (The link popped up in the Google search directly below Ooza Palooza.)

Boozapalooza, pretty much what you'd expect it to be.

Cruise-A-Palooza, some sort of event in Cincinnati involving just about everything except actual cruising.

Hullabalooza, the parody music festival in a 1996 episode of The Simpsons--a nice portmanteau of hullaballoo and lollapalooza. (The episode was titled "Homerpalooza.")

A-Muse-a-Palooza, a rubber-stamping festival sponsored by Amuse Art Stamps.

DooF-a-Palooza, a "magical food extravaganza" held earlier this month at Google headquarters in Mountain View (DooF is "food" spelled backward).

Loser Palooza, a book by Darby Conley. Well, someone had to write it.

And someone (else) had to coin Obama-palooza.

Then there's a series of X-rated DVDs with the umbrella title Assapalooza, which I admire and want to add to my bottom-line collection. (You'll have to search for it yourself. Sorry.)

Some paloozas fizzle: Learn-A-Palooza, Investor Palooza, Fetish Palooza, Tech Palooza. And from conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, the cringingly clunky Stimulation-Palooza and Stimulus-Palooza. Oof! Or maybe DooF.

My personal pet palooza? It's got to be Halalapalooza!, "Your guide to Islamic e-commerce."

Update: Also see Mike Pope's listapalooza here.

Posted at 08:30 AM in Contests, Puzzles & Games, Simpsons, Words | Permalink