Ta-da!

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

    "Ta-da!" imitates the two notes played by the band as the introduction to something dramatic/new/exciting.

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Landau, James
> Sent:         Tuesday, February 28, 2006 12:14 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:           Ta-da!
>
> A coworker of mine speculates that "Ta-da!", an expression used by magicians about to reveal the end-results of a trick (as opposed to "hocus-pocus", used to initiate the audience's perception of a trick),
> is from the Hebrew "toda" (thank you) or "toda raba" (great thanks).  He points out that many vaudeville performers were Jewish and thereforefamiliar with at least a few words of Hebrew.
>
> Any comments?
>
>          - James A. Landau
>

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