Talk:ramalamadingdong

RFV discussion: March–August 2023

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ramalamadingdong

"A nonsense onomatopoeiac word from early bebop music." Is it only in the one song, or several? Equinox ◑ 01:30, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

Maybe [1] [2]? But they're mentions. Are we really after things like this and this? In any event it would need to be moved to ramalamadingdong. This, that and the other (talk) 11:07, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

This[3] appears to be the original form (Rama Lama Ding Dong) and there's a similar vocable sung in the Grease song 'Let's Stick Together'. --Overlordnat1 (talk) 11:57, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

Can it be attested other than as a meaningless vocable? We do not have an entry for lalala, which occurs in countless songs. I don't feel we should include terms that consist of a haphazard string of syllables not carrying referential or pragmatic meaning.  --Lambiam 21:29, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Outside the scope of lyrics or specific parts of speech, I see this word as an easily recognizable term expressing that something is intended as nonsense. I found three cites of that general type and added them on the page, but I don't know if they prove anything. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 13:23, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

IMO ramalamadingdong is too specific to be dismissed as a haphazard string of syllables, so given that it's used in running prose in all three of those cites I would say this is cited and discuss further at RFD if necessary. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 13:26, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

The definition, and even the part of speech, is clearly wrong though. This, that and the other (talk) 11:02, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

If kept, this should be at the lowercase version. I think that two of the cites are directly referencing the originating song "put the ram back in the ramalamadingdong" and the one about speaking in tongues, the third one is perhaps not. Regardless, nonsense lyrics are probably not worth including. - TheDaveRoss 17:22, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

Oops, I thought "Who Put the Bomp" was the original, that is the song referenced. - TheDaveRoss 17:25, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

I don't think this entry is any more questionable than tra-la-la really and we might as well keep it. If needs be, we can create Rama Lama Ding Dong and move the entry there, or simply create it, and rama-lama-ding-dong, as alternative forms. The Google Books citations could be moved to the citations page and listed as examples of where ramalamadingdong has been used with an unclear meaning and the main entry could consist entirely of song lyrics, as there are many other songs that use the word, not just the ones by The Edsels and Barry Mann discussed above. --Overlordnat1 (talk) 09:32, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

Cited. I’ve added three more cites from song lyrics and the part of speech is correct as interjections can form part of sentences (as in happy days and happy trails). We could perhaps add the Edsels quote as a variant form too but they actually sing ‘Rama Lama Lama Ding Dong’ and claim it’s the name of a girl so the spacing, capitalisation, extra ‘Lama’ and usage suggest we perhaps shouldn’t (though this clearly is the correct etymology). --Overlordnat1 (talk) 10:38, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

@Overlordnat1 Thanks for adding cites, though this does pose an interesting question - how do we think about fan-created lyrics sites like Genius? Obviously the lyrics in the liner notes of an album are perfectly valid, but lyrics are often and sometimes famously misheard by fans, so are such sites not merely hearsay? In this case, how do we know whether the intended lyric was meant to be spelled as presented (not super important, but relevant) and are actually what the fans heard and transcribed? I think this particular term has sufficient evidence that the question is moot, but I can imagine other cases where such cites are actually crucial for attestation. - TheDaveRoss 14:40, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Moved to lowercase as threatened envisaged. The offensive term for Ramadan remains at Ramalamadingdong. This, that and the other (talk) 01:31, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

Passed. --Overlordnat1 (talk) 13:15, 5 August 2023 (UTC)