Помпатус: История одного слова из поп-культуры

Nonce word
Pompatus (or Pompitus) ('/p//ɒ//m//p//ə//t//ə//s/) is a nonce word coined by Steve Miller in his hit single "The Joker" (1973).

The word is probably a corruption of—or imagined variation on—the word "puppetutes", which was itself a coinage, originated by Vernon Green at the age of 14. Green included the word "puppetutes" in the lyrics of doo wop song "The Letter" (1954), as performed by him and The Medallions. "The Letter" also included another original coinage, "pismotality". Presumably in homage to the Medallions' song, Steve Miller used the nonce words "epismetology" and "pompatus" in the lyrics of two of his other songs, "Enter Maurice" and "The Conversation", one of which is, like "The Letter", in spoken word style. The appealing oddness of the phrase "the pompatus of love" garnered a lot of attention, and inspired its use by others. For example, as the title of a 1996 film starring Jon Cryer.

Because of its peculiarity, the word pompatus has secured a niche in 20th century pop culture. Wolfman Jack frequently referenced the phrase and there is a sound clip of him using the line within the song "Clap for the Wolfman" by The Guess Who. The Pompatus of Love, a 1996 film starring Jon Cryer, featured four men discussing a number of assorted themes, including attempts to determine the meaning of the phrase. Jon Cryer was also a writer of the film, and describes finding out the meaning of the phrase during a phone call with Vernon Green in his autobiography "So That Happened" in chapter 22, page 217. Humor columnist Dave Barry frequently refers to the song line as a source of comedic value, particularly in his 1997 book Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. 'Pompatus' is used by Michael Ondaatje in his 2001 book Anil's Ghost. Stephen King uses the word in his 2006 novel Lisey's Story. Tim Dorsey uses the word in his 2010 novel, Gator a Go Go. It was the subject of the October 9, 2011 Over the Hedge comic strip.