Today a particular example of nonsense words. In fact, a whole nonsense language invented by American musician and songwriter Bulee ‘Slim’ Gaillard—who (I am told) was one of the biggest names in the 1930s jazz scene.
He called his signature jive language ‘Vout-O-Reenee’ or just ‘Vout. It has been described as an ‘exuberant, nonsensical and infectious.’ In 1946 he published Slim Gaillard’s Vout-O-Reenee Dictionary.
The entry for ‘vout’ says ‘used as a word substitute or word ending’—which doesn’t really explain much.
He used his distinctive language in some of the songs he wrote, such as “Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy” (a hit in 1938) and “Cement Mixer (Put-ti-put-ti) (a hit in 1946).
You haven’t heard of them? Dear me, look at all that culture you’ve missed out on! Anyway, here are few entries from his dictionary:
Blink-o-roony—sleep
Burn-o-vouty—kitchen
Globe-o-vooty—the world
Ticket-tee—a watch
Reet—right
Tool-o-rooty—a fork
Mug-o-vout—your face
What’s the vout? —what’s the news?
And so on. You get the general idea. You just take any word and add ‘o-roony’ too it and you're talking his language. Which is very cool-o-roony!
As for Slim Gaillard himself, there was more to him than his nonsense language. He played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Wikipedia says that in addition to English, he spoke five languages (Spanish, German, Greek, Arabic and Armenian) with varying degrees of fluency. In the 1960s and 1970s, he acted in films—sometimes as himself—and also appeared in bit parts in television series.
And he was famous for his comic ‘scat singing’ using his own constructed language. Gaillard died of cancer in London on February 26, 1991. His unique and varied career spanned nearly six decades.
Tonight I'll join Peta Credlin on Sky News for 'Words Matter.'
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