h
• "His ultra-bright hey-presto look was insolent." -- Saul Bellow, The Dean's
December (1982)
• "'Hey presto,' he said. The door swung open." -- Georgia Byng, Molly
Moon Stops the World (2004)
Hfuhruhurr
(see qmfbtf)
Facts: This mumbled word is used to summon an invisible swordsman in
the film ¡Three Amigos! (1986).
"Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr" is a character in the film The Man with
Two Brains (198 ).
Higgledy Piggledy
Meanings:
• "Every which way"
• In random order
• Topsy turvey
Facts: This phrase is a favorite of professional magician Emazdad (Clive
Hemsley). He says he prefers original-sounding phrases so that he doesn't
appear to be using "someone else's magic."11
Variations and Incantations:
• Higgledy Piggledy Pop
-- Maurice Sendak
In Literature:
• "By whatever higgledy-piggledy chance, space arose, time arose, laws of
physics arose." -- John Archibald Wheeler, Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum
Foam (1998)
• From An Appalachian Mother Goose by James Still (1998):
Higgledy, piggledy, my smart hen,
She lays goose eggs for gentlemen;
Gentlemen come from miles away,
To see goose eggs my hen doth lay.
11 TheMagicCafe.com (200 )