Origin of Babidi's chant

Post by **Herms** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:03 am

----Notice:This old thread is part of my series of guides. To avoid necro-posting, please post any comments you have in the sticky thread for my guides, rather than here. Thanks!----

So I was wandering around Japanese Wikipedia when I found something interesting: in the Japanese version of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Shazzan (called "Daimao Shazzan, with daimao in this case meaning "great magical king" instead of "great demon king"), the titular genie says the phrase "Paparapah!" whenever he uses his magic, which became a popular phrase among kids at the time (Toriyama would have been 12 at the time). This is basically the same thing as Babidi's magical phrase, "Papparapah", so I'm betting that's the source for it. I watched an episode of Shazzan on youtube and he never used the phrase, so I'm guessing that it was only in the Japanese version. I can't find any videos of the Japanese version of the show on youtube, though I did find the Japanese into song. Since Shazzan is a genie and the whole show is based on the Arabian Nights, this would be another bit of Arabian Nights influence on the Buu arc.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:05 am

Hah. Interesting find, I've never heard of that one.

I watched that cartoon as a kid and I don't remember the phrase being in the English version either, but it was a long time ago, I could be mistaken.

Raki · Post by **Raki** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:04 am

Herms, you are amazing. To think we all know everything about Dragonball...

saiyanprincess · Post by **saiyanprincess** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:29 am

Amazing... So Toriyama could have based Babidi on a genie. You certainly learn new things everyday!

Cheers Herms!

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:43 am

Speaking of chants and a daimao, what exactly are the words Piccolo Daimao says when he's making a new egg and where did they originate from?

Post by **Herms** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:35 am

Tsukento wrote:Speaking of chants and a daimao, what exactly are the words Piccolo Daimao says when he's making a new egg and where did they originate from?

Daimao answered this in this old thread:

Daimao wrote:It comes from a game where one child is chosen to be "it," and turns his back to the other children playing. The others then chant "Chinaman, Chinaman, who's poking you?" as they come up and jab him in the back. Depending on the style being played, "it" then has to guess who was the first or last to poke him. If "it" is right, that person then becomes "it."

"Pokopen" is apparently derived from the Chinese "Bu kuang ben" (不囈本), meaning "prohibited" or "taboo." It's an ethnic slur, so be advised.

Krakabeast · Post by **Krakabeast** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:58 pm

Nice find! I guess the winged-camel creature was voiced by the same person who did Scooby-Doo.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:35 pm

Krakabeast wrote:Nice find! I guess the winged-camel creature was voiced by the same person who did Scooby-Doo.

He did a lot of voices including Hamton J. Pig, Astro and Papa Smurf.

Kanzenshuu

Origin of Babidi's chant

Origin of Babidi's chant

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