Meaning:
A notional place characterized by fantasy, self-absorption and blissful lack
of touch with reality.
Background:
`La-la land' isn't listed on maps, but the label does refer to a real place,
that is, Los Angeles, which is of course widely referred to as L.A. The
expression has taken on a meaning built partly from the place name and partly
from the supposed frivolous and eccentric behaviour of the city's movie
community.
The term began to be used by the general public around the late 1970s and
both of the above sources of the expression are found in print in 1979:
Washington Post, 4th February - "Monday night in Lalaland is not like
Monday night in, say, Washington."
Los Angeles Times, 28th July - "Heather was in la-la land after drinking
the LSD-spiked iced tea intended for Diana."
Another link between the phrase and Los Angeles was the 1984 film Beverly
Hills Cop. In a scene where Eddie Murphy's lead character Axel Foley was
being criticised by fellow cop Jeffrey Friedman, Foley stuck his fingers in
his ears and sang "la la la" to drown out the reproach:
Foley: I am not listening to you.
Jeffrey: Great. Real mature.
Foley: I am not listening to Jeffrey, but he's still talking.
That gesture became something of a clich amongst Hollywood types for a few
years.
Despite all the associations of `la-la land' with late 20th century Los
Angeles, the earliest use of the expression in print is from long ago and far
away. A heading in the Los Angeles Times in January 1925 ran:
Miniature motor cars developed by French engineers amaze American
government. Commerce Department motor head home again; describes one-man
taxis in `La-La Land'.
Presumably, the author had in mind the phrase `ooh-la-la', which was in vogue
as a recent import from France into the USA in 1925, when that early form of
`La-la land' was coined. The phrase never caught on with that meaning,
although it might have come in handy as an alternative to the "cheese-eating
surrender monkeys" line that the The Simpsons' writer Ken Keeler used to
articulate the USA's prevailing anti-French sentiment in 1995.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was still thinking of tomorrow's snowstorm on the Canadian Prairies when, a
few hours later, the plane began its descent to San Diego Int'l Airport. In the
dead of So Cal winter, the day was bright and the air balmy, sandstone-faced
apartments stood under roofs of red Spanish clay tiles, varicolored bird of
paradise accented manicured landscapes with sparkling outdoor swimming pools and
gurgling jacuzzis, and giant palms and eucalyptuses beckoned in gentle breeze.
La Jolla was clean, beautiful, and well, artificial. For the first few months, I
went to work every morning feeling unreal and wondering how I ended up in this
la-la land.
Meaning:
A notional place characterized by fantasy, self-absorption and blissful lack
of touch with reality.
Background:
`La-la land' isn't listed on maps, but the label does refer to a real place,
that is, Los Angeles, which is of course widely referred to as L.A. The
expression has taken on a meaning built partly from the place name and partly
from the supposed frivolous and eccentric behaviour of the city's movie
community.
The term began to be used by the general public around the late 1970s and
both of the above sources of the expression are found in print in 1979:
Washington Post, 4th February - "Monday night in Lalaland is not like
Monday night in, say, Washington."
Los Angeles Times, 28th July - "Heather was in la-la land after drinking
the LSD-spiked iced tea intended for Diana."
Another link between the phrase and Los Angeles was the 1984 film Beverly
Hills Cop. In a scene where Eddie Murphy's lead character Axel Foley was
being criticised by fellow cop Jeffrey Friedman, Foley stuck his fingers in
his ears and sang "la la la" to drown out the reproach:
Foley: I am not listening to you.
Jeffrey: Great. Real mature.
Foley: I am not listening to Jeffrey, but he's still talking.
That gesture became something of a clich amongst Hollywood types for a few
years.
Despite all the associations of `la-la land' with late 20th century Los
Angeles, the earliest use of the expression in print is from long ago and far
away. A heading in the Los Angeles Times in January 1925 ran:
Miniature motor cars developed by French engineers amaze American
government. Commerce Department motor head home again; describes one-man
taxis in `La-La Land'.
Presumably, the author had in mind the phrase `ooh-la-la', which was in vogue
as a recent import from France into the USA in 1925, when that early form of
`La-la land' was coined. The phrase never caught on with that meaning,
although it might have come in handy as an alternative to the "cheese-eating
surrender monkeys" line that the The Simpsons' writer Ken Keeler used to
articulate the USA's prevailing anti-French sentiment in 1995.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was still thinking of tomorrow's snowstorm on the Canadian Prairies when, a
few hours later, the plane began its descent to San Diego Int'l Airport. In the
dead of So Cal winter, the day was bright and the air balmy, sandstone-faced
apartments stood under roofs of red Spanish clay tiles, varicolored bird of
paradise accented manicured landscapes with sparkling outdoor swimming pools and
gurgling jacuzzis, and giant palms and eucalyptuses beckoned in gentle breeze.
La Jolla was clean, beautiful, and well, artificial. For the first few months, I
went to work every morning feeling unreal and wondering how I ended up in this
la-la land.