La-La Land?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 3/17/07, Marsha Wilson <marshatrue at peoplepc.com> wrote:
> Does anyone have the origin of this phrase?  Or can you point me to ways =
> to look it up myself - not a scholar here, just highly interested in =
> language.  I did check the ADS archives.  Thanks!

This has come up a few times here, most recently in my post of 9/30/05:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0509E&L=ADS-L&P=R1971

Earliest cites (from 1925) refer to Paris, apparently on the basis of
"ooh-la-la". Cites relating to Los Angeles and to a nonspecific
dreamland start turning up around 1979.

--Ben Zimmer

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