Talk:bazinga
seven-stringed harp
[edit]bazinga - Originally from a book "The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody." Written by Will Cuppy Published in 1950 by Dorset Press, New York.In the first chapter about the Pharaoh Cheops or Khufu refers to bazinga as a seven string harp in Egypt.
I felt it was important to know that the fabrication of the term preceded "The Big Bang Theory" by about 60 years.
from the text:
"Personally, I would call the royal harem one of Khufu's main interests in life and one of his claims to our attention. Although we lack statistics, it must have been one of the largest in the ancient world, completely equipped with the very best concubines obtainable in Africa, all skilled in dancing, singing and playing on the bazinga, or seven-stringed harp." - unsigned comment by Cryogen (talk), 17:50, 18 March 2013
- Unless the Big Bang Theory writers confirm they got bazinga from Will Cuppy's book, it seem like his use is an isolated nonce word, and etymologically unrelated to the later use of bazinga as an interjection. Bazinga also gets a few hits as an apparent placeholder/metasyntactic variable in computing newsgroups on Usenet in the 1980s.[1][2] Astral (talk) 19:58, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
- Added Cuppy and seven-stringed harp sense to citations tab. If you can attest it with two more durable usages, we could add that as another definition. (And please remember to sign your comments with ~~~~ next time.) ~ Röbin Liönheart (talk) 20:23, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
- Cuppy was a humourist. The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody is satire. That is to say no one actually played "bazingas" in Ancient Egypt - Cuppy was just poking fun at history. Astral (talk) 20:41, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
- Bazinga on me, then! ~ Röbin Liönheart (talk) 21:15, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
- Cuppy was a satirist, but he was also obsessed with facts and tended to get upset if people laughed at his writings because they believed he made things up. I would be very surprised if he hadinvented this word. 06-03-2013
- Bazinga on me, then! ~ Röbin Liönheart (talk) 21:15, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
- Cuppy was a humourist. The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody is satire. That is to say no one actually played "bazingas" in Ancient Egypt - Cuppy was just poking fun at history. Astral (talk) 20:41, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
HuffPost has an article about bazinga (and alternate spelling buzzinga) and mentions an episode of X-files form 2000 as well as an episode of Family Guy from 2001 which are suggest relatively recent precedent. A book from the '50s seems more like a coincidence. -- 109.77.237.192 00:36, 18 May 2018 (UTC)