2 8 MAGIC WORDS
In Literature:
• "You appear on the stage with a napkin on one hand and a serviette grasped
between the five fingers of the other. And waving it above your head you
then with a series of intonations such as 'hoopla' or 'abracadabra' man
age to make the first . . ." -- Clement Freud, "Welcome to Just a Minute!"
(1977)
Hopla Yado Yado Bido Bido Pif Paf
Plouf Tic Toc Rah Rah Rah Tralala
(see also hoopla and pif paf poof)
In Literature:
• Raymond Federman, Take It or Leave It (1976)
Hottentot Tatertot
In Literature:
• Bart King, The Big Book of Boy Stuff (2004)
Houdini Lives
Facts: This magic phrase refers to the great magician Harry Houdini.
In Literature:
• "It helps to know the magic word if you want to get into the Famous
Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I tried 'Abracadabra,' and
it worked, but by the time I left, I was wiser. The real magic word, or
words, to be more precise, are, and you have to yell them, 'Houdini Lives!'"
-- RoadtripAmerica.com (2005)
Hour
In Literature:
• "'Hour' is a magical word: of all the units of time it is the most imponderable.
Either it is interminable, or so fleeting. One finds it difficult to believe there
are a full two dozen in a day." -- Thomas M. Disch, Neighboring Lives (1980)