Instead of celebrating children and reading by idolizing the most sophisticated and elegant of literary sentences, we decided to turn to the most fun.
What follows is a list of what we think are some of the best made-up/nonsense words in children’s literature and Disney’s long pedigree of classic children’s movies.
Mimsy
”’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
’Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’”
- “Jabberwocky,” by Lewis Carroll
Snozzwangers
”’Of course they’re real people. They’re Oompa-Loompas. ... Imported direct from Loompaland,’ said Mr. Wonka proudly. ...
”’And oh, what a terrible country it is! Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the entire world — hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping.’”
- “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” by Roald Dahl
Truffula
”Those trees! Those trees!
Those Truffula Trees!
All my life I’d been searching
for trees such as these.
The touch of their tufts
was much softer than silk.
And they had the sweet smell
of fresh butterfly milk.
I felt a great leaping
of joy in my heart.
I knew just what I’d do!
I unloaded my cart.
In no time at all, I had built a small shop.
Then I chopped down a Truffula Tree with one chop.
And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed,
I took the soft tuft, and I knitted a Thneed!
The instant I’d finished, I heard a ga-Zump!
I looked.
I saw something pop out of the stump
of the tree I’d chopped down. It was sort of a man.
Describe him?... That’s hard. I don’t know if I can.”
- “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss
Snark
”’Just the place for a Snark!’ the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
”’Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.’ ...
”’His form in ungainly—his intellect small—’
(So the Bellman would often remark)
”’But his courage is perfect! And that, after all,
Is the thing that one needs with a Snark.’”
- “The Hunting of the Snark,” by Lewis Carroll
Dinglehopper
Scuttle: “It’s a dinglehopper. Humans use these little babies... to straighten their hair out. See? Just a little twirl here and a yank there and voila. You’ve got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over.”
- Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”
Slishity-slosh
”I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.
I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can’t do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I’m just not the same since there’s rain in my head.”
- “Rain,” by Shel Silverstein
Scrumdiddlyumptious
”’I is reading it hundreds of times,’ the BFG said. ‘And I is still reading it and teaching new words to myself and how to write them. It is the most scrumdiddlyumptious story.’
”Sophie took the book out of his hand. ‘Nicholas Nickleby,’ she read aloud.
”’By Dahl’s Chickens,’ the BFG said.”
- “The BFG,” by Roald Dahl
Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious
Mary & Bert: “Oh, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious, if you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”
- Disney’s “Mary Poppins”
Quidditch
”Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said ‘Sonorus!’ and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.
”’Ladies and gentlemen... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!’ ...
”Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started testing them, staring down into the crowd on the other side of the stadium.
”’Wild!’ he said, twiddling the replay knob on the side. I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again ...and again ...and again...’”
- “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” by J.K. Rowling
Slithy
”’You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir,’ said Alice. ‘Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem called “Jabberwocky”?’
”’Let’s hear it,’ said Humpty Dumpty. ...
”Alice repeated the first verse:
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
”’That’s enough to begin with,’ Humpty Dumpty interrupted: ‘there are plenty of hard words there. “Brillig” means four o’clock in the afternoon — the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.’
”’That’ll do very well,’ said Alice: ‘and “slithy”?’
”’Well, “slithy” means “lithe and slimy”. “Lithe” is the same as “active”. You see it’s like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word.’”
- “Through the Looking Glass,” by Lewis Carroll
Runcible
”They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.”
- “The Owl and the Pussycat,” by Edward Lear
Sploosh
”Zero held a jar in his hand and grunted as he tried to unscrew the lid.
’What is it?’
”’Sploosh!’ His voice was strained as he worked on the jar. ‘That’s what I call it.
They were buried under the boat.’ ...
”(Stanley) wondered if Zero had heard of bacteria. He raised the jar to his mouth and carefully took a sip.
”It was a warm, bubbly, mushy nectar, sweet and tangy. It felt like heaven as it
flowed over his dry mouth and down his parched throat. He thought it might have been some kind of fruit at some time, perhaps peaches.
”Zero smiled at him. ‘I told you it was good.’
- “Holes,” by Louis Sachar
Heffalumps
”’Help, help!” cried Piglet, ‘a Heffalump, a Horrible Heffalump!’ and he scampered off as hard as he could, still crying out, ‘Help, help, a Herrible Hoffalump! Hoff, Hoff, a Hellible Horralump! Holl, Holl, a Hoffable Hellerump!’ And he didn’t stop crying and scampering until he got to Christopher Robin’s house.”
- “Winnie-the-Pooh,” by A.A. Milne
Nerkle
”And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Katroo
And bring back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo,
A Nerkle, a Nerd and a Seersucker too.”
- “If I Ran the Zoo,” by Dr. Seuss
Itchitacopita Melakamystica
Winifred: “Twist the bones and bend the back”
Sarah & Mary: “Itch-it-a-cop-it-a-Mel-a-ka-mys-ti-ca”
Winifred: “Trim him of his baby fat”
Sarah & Mary: “Itch-it-a-cop-it-a-Mel-a-ka-mys-ti-ca”
Winifred: Give him fur black as black, just
Mary: “Like”
Sarah: “This!”
- Disney’s “Hocus Pocus”
Wingardium Leviosa
”’Wingardium Leviosa!’ (Ron) shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.
”’You’re saying it wrong,’ Harry heard Hermione snap. ‘It’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the ‘gar’ nice and long.’
”’You do it, then, if you’re so clever,’ Ron snarled.”
- “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” by J.K. Rowling
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Fairy Godmother: “Salaga-doola, menchika-boola, Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. Put them together, and what have you got? Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.
”Salaga-doola, menchika-boola, Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. It will do magic, believe it or not, Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.
”Now, ‘Salagadoola’ means, ‘A-Menchika-boola-roo,’ but the the thingamabob, that does the job, is ‘Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.’”
- Disney’s “Cinderella” (1950)
Telephunk
”Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)”
- “Eletelephony,” Laura E. Richards