There's an interesting article about the search for the origin of the word. It appears that it began as a nonsense word in a doo-wop song by Vernon Green. The spelling is inventive and the word changes slightly over time. I think it is moving towards a more meaningful shape for it migrates from "puppetutes" to "pompatus" and moves away from a "puppet" implication towards "pompous" implication, carryinbg a sense of pomposity.
There's an interesting article about the search for the origin of the word. It appears that it began as a nonsense word in a doo-wop song by Vernon Green. The spelling is inventive and the word changes slightly over time. I think it is moving towards a more meaningful shape for it migrates from "puppetutes" to "pompatus" and moves away from a "puppet" implication towards "pompous" implication, carryinbg a sense of pomposity.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the article:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/972/in-steve-millers-the-joker-what-is-the-pompatus-of-love