'Of course', says Mary Poppins, smugly in the middle of one of the instrumental bits of the song, 'you can say it backwards which is dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirepus'. Now, I was quite obsessive as a child, and, impressed with the woman's skill and style, I learnt this, carefully and diligently so that I could show off at parties (yes - a sad life, I know, I know). But... and this is the real stinker... it's not! Because, dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirepus backwards is not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious... in fact it's superilacigarfcitsilipxeilasuoicod.

I felt so cheated! For years I'd been showing off at parties and had, in fact, been perpetrating a fraud. Gutted I was.

It was years before I could watch another Julie Andrews movie without scowling.

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