LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.13 (02) [E]

Tue Mar 13 14:29:29 UTC 2007

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L O W L A N D S - L - 13 March 2007 - Volume 02

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From: Marcel Bas <roepstem at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.12 (05) [E]

Hi Ron,

When I first read "*lala*" or "*la-la*" it reminded me of Louisiana French
Creole *La-la, *which is the black creole music that later evolved
into Zydeco music. The word also used to refer to a Creole dance party in a
shed, or at somebody's house. I don't know whether it is connected to the
usual syllable-filling "la-la-la" in songs, or whether it is abbreviation
and later reduplication of a word (cf. Cajun French "Fais *do-do*!" - Go to
sleep!)

Maybe *la-la *here has African or native American roots?

Best regards,

Marcel.

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From: Peter Snepvangers <snepvangers at optushome.com.au>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.12 (05) [E]

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Lowlanders,

Lately I've been picking up quite a bit of Farsi (Iranian Persian) baby
language, namely ever since Iranian friends of mine added a little fluffy
dog to their household.

One word that struck me was lala (or la-la), a noun that is equivalent to
German Heia and English "beddy-bye" -- 'to go to bed' or 'to sleep'.  When I
asked about it I was told that at times it is used in grown-up contexts as
well, always in a joking way, sometimes implying that someone is half asleep
or not paying attention, or just sleeping like a baby.

This may sound far-fetched at first, but it made me wonder about the
(American) English "slang" expression "lala land," which connotes a
"zonked-out" state of mind, a state of sleep, daydreaming, absentmindedness,
an altered state of consciousness (due to alcohol or other substances), or a
state of self-delusion. In other words, when someone is in "lala land" he or
she is "out there."

Sure!  This could be simply coincidental.  But I'm thinking about the 1960s
and 1970s here, which appears to be the period when this English expression
began, a period also in which various terms related to recreational drugs
were borrowed from North African, Near Eastern and South Asian languages (
e.g., kif, hookah, dawamesk, moocah, mutha, ghanja and bhang) and hippies
and their ilk traveled to countries in which those languages are spoken.
Could "lala" have been borrowed at that time?  Is it a loanword in Indian
languages?  Or did Persian get it from the East?

Is this term used in other European languages as well?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

Hello Reinhard,
I think your spot on the money here. When I first left my parents nest I
"shacked up" for a few years with a couple of mates whose parents were
deceased and had left them a great old house on about 8 acres of bush. We
were the half way house for hippies returning from their pilgrimages to
India, Goa, Tibet or South America etc. They would stay at our place for
about 3 to 6 months, slowly get a job and melt back into the Aussie rat
race. La La Land was what we called Shangrila or the spiritual quest for a
better world other than the western capitalist system. They were mostly nice
people originally from middle class white Anglo Saxon background with nice
ideals but lacking in realism. Travel always did them good. In the late
1970's early 80's La La was used by the youth to describe the Hippie person
rather than the idealism. Most hippies did partake in recreational drugs
especially ghanja and usually just sat around, played music etc and did not
really do much when they were off their face. The emerging mods, punks etc
here referred to hippies as lala's or from lala land.
Cheers
Peter Snepvangers
snepvangers at optushome.com.au
Sydney Australia

•

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