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<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 13 March 2007 - Volume 02<br><br>=========================================================================<br><br>From: <span id="_user_roepstem@hotmail.com" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Marcel Bas <
<a href="mailto:roepstem@hotmail.com">roepstem@hotmail.com</a>></span><br>Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.12 (05) [E]<br><br>Hi Ron,<br>
<br>
When I first read "<em>lala</em>" or "<em>la-la</em>" it reminded me of Louisiana French Creole <em>La-la, </em>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 <em>do-do</em>!" - Go to sleep!) <br><br>
Maybe <em>la-la </em>here has African or native American roots?<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
<br>
Marcel.<br><br>----------<br><br>From: <span id="_user_snepvangers@optushome.com.au" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Peter Snepvangers <<a href="mailto:snepvangers@optushome.com.au">snepvangers@optushome.com.au</a>>
</span><br>Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.12 (05) [E]<br>
<br><span class="q"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>> <br>Subject:
Etymology<br><br>Lowlanders,<br><br>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. <br><br>One word that struck me
was <span style="font-style: italic;">lala</span> (or <span style="font-style: italic;">la-la</span>), a noun that is equivalent to German
<span style="font-style: italic;">Heia</span> 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. <br><br>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." <br><br>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?
<br><br>Is this term used in other European languages as
well?<br><br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron</div>
<div> </div></span>
<div><font size="2">Hello Reinhard,</font></div>
<div><font size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font size="2">Cheers</font></div>
<div><font size="2">Peter Snepvangers</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><a href="mailto:snepvangers@optushome.com.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">snepvangers@optushome.com.au</a></font></div>
<div><font size="2">Sydney Australia</font></div>
<br>
•
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