Glossary for Utopia {Limited} This glossary appeared in the program of the 1988 performance of Utopia {Limited} by The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company . Permission is hereby granted to use the material on this site for any purpose. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GLOSSARY (in order of occurrence) Act I : * Lalabalele talala! etc. - Gilbert used some actual Polynesian for Tarara's raging: "Idiot, I run around screaming but can't make much more noise, since I am hoarse. Crossly I drag myself into the open and go spinning around sweating." * Girton - a women's college at Cambidge University, founded in 1869 * Heliogabalian profligates - Heliogabalus was a notoriously decadent Roman Emperor. * Song of far niente - idleness (in Italian) * Time's teeototum - waltz away like a teetotum - a kind of top * you're decidedly de trop - French for superfluous or unwanted * rum-punch as a draught, not a fomentation - medicine to be drunk, rather than applied to the skin * Tontine principle - scheme in which investors deposit money, the whole to be claimed by the last remaining alive * ye South Pacific Island viviparians - those whose you are born live (not hatched) * Ulahlica! - "The Utopian equivalent for Hear, Hear, Hear!" * swell the county rate - increase the local taxes * what contango means and also backwardation - fees paid to postpone settlement of a stock purchase or sale, respectively * K.C.B. - Knight Commander of the (Order of the) Bath (high honor) * Q.C. - Queen's Counsel (senior lawyer) * M.P. - Member of Parliament (elected Politician) * Maxim gun and Nordenfelt - kinds of machine gun * thanks to coke - a fuel made from coal * Company Limited - an incorporated company ("Inc.") * Winding-up - the process of dissolving a business * Joint Stock Companies Act of Parliament '62 - This act made it easier for small investors to pool their resources and incorporate with reduced personal risk (limited liability). Note: Seven was the required number of founders to establish a company, and the word "limited" (Ltd.) had to be added to the company's name. Act II : * Drawing Room - formal reception by a person or rank * Court of St. James's vs. Court of St. James's Hall - confusing the royal palace with the music hall which featured the original "Christy Minstrels" (Royal audience members were not amused) * Don't be unhappy, it's still on the tapis - under consideration * Eleven stone two - a stone equals 14 pounds, so the Goldbury's ideal girl weighs 156 lbs. - of course, she's 5 foot 10 * that asinorum pons I have crossed - actually, "pons asinorum," or Bridge of Asses; schoolboy slang for one of Euclid's propositions, due to the difficulty of "getting over " it * A fico for such boon - fig ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Last updated May 5, 1996. A complete set of glossaries can be found in The Gilbert and Sullivan Glossary Collection . For lots of information about G&S visit the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Home Page