MAGIC WORDS
Origins: Presto is derived from the Italian word for quickly.
Facts: The Great Presto is a stage magician in the comic book Uncle Sam
Quarterly #2.
Common Magician's Applications: Transformations, vanishing.
Variations and Incantations:
• Hey Presto
"'Hey, presto!' said the Magic Shopman, and then would come the clear,
small 'Hey, presto!' of the boy." -- H.G. Wells, "The Magic Shop"
• Presto Chango
"I can change anything / with just one magic word." -- Arden Davidson,
"Presto Chango!" (1998)
"The fact that the energy of a response is not proportional to the
magnitude of the result has contributed to the belief in verbal magic (the
magician's 'Presto chango' converts a handkerchief into a rabbit)." -- B.F.
Skinner, About Behaviorism (1974)
"[O]ften used when performing a transformation . . ." -- Tom Og
den, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Magic Tricks (1998)
• Presto chango alakazam
-- Jon Scieszka, 2095 (1995)
• Presto Chango! Ala Peanut Butter Sandwiches! Alakazaam!
-- David E. Bell (2001)
• Prest-o Change-o
• Presto Alacazam
"Presto! Alacazam! By sleight of hand, the rules have been circumvented."
-- D. Kirk Davidson, The Moral Dimension of Marketing (2002)
• Presto-digitation
-- Ace Starry, The Magic Life: A Novel Philosophy (200 )
• Presto magic
"She just wanted me to pass her that morning like presto magic or something,
but I was not planning on being a magician." -- Omar Tyree, For the
Love of Money (2000)
• Presto vedo
"It were as if the Juggler had uttered the magic words, presto vedo, for when
the bugle announced the hour for striking tents, all was done in a trice." --
Civil War news from The Clinton Public, "From the 107th Regiment, Camp
Joe Kelly, Glasgow, KY, March 17th, 186 "
In Literature:
• "He looked as if he had rolled out of a Zen scroll, as if he said 'presto' a
lot, knew the meaning of lightning and the origin of dreams." -- Tom Robbins,
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976)