
John, you’re right
It’s good to know you’re bright
For intellect can wash away confusion
Georgie sees
And Annabel agrees
Most folderol’s an optical illusion
Can You Imagine That?, Mary Poppins Returns
If you thought my Mary Poppins Returns posts were done, well, honestly, so did I. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it – they’re not.
I was listening to “Can You Imagine That?” from Mary Poppins Returns the other night, when I randomly had the inkling to look up “folderol”. I always thought it was a made-up word to rhyme with something. But now that I think about it, it doesn’t rhyme with anything else in the song.
Anyway, I pulled out my phone and tapped on the Merriam-Webster dictionary app. And I found the following:

As you can see, “folderol” isn’t nonsense, but that’s exactly what it means.