英语阅读：Hocus Pocus
Reader question:The "Hocus Pocus" played by magician Liu Qian from Taiwan in the 2009
Spring Festival gala has attracted great attention and wide interests. Could you
explain hocus pocus please?
My comments:
In addition to musical, hocus-pocus sounds magical, doesn't it? And the
word does originate from the world of magic playing in Medieval Europe.
In the dictionary I have at hand, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English, hocus-pocus is defined this way: "a method or belief that you think is
based on false ideas: He thinks psychology is a load of hocus-pocus."
I'm afraid this explanation isn't as interesting as the sounding of the
word itself. But then again, the dictionary I mentioned is a dictionary for
beginners. One can't expect much from it when it comes to such an interesting
word as hocus-pocus.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary online, on the other hand, gives a more
detailed explanation: "1. sleigh of hand. 2. nonsense or sham used especially to
cloak deception." And it gives etymology (word origin): "probably from hocus
pocus, imitation of a Latin phrase used by jugglers".
This explanation gets to the nitty-gritty of hocus-pocus – exotic but
meaningless talk by the magician to hoodwink the audience. Watch any magician at
work and we'll notice that he sometimes talks incessantly while performing
tricks, using hocus-pocus (ear-catching words, eye-catching hand/body movements)
to distract our attention while he gets a trick done.
Hocus pocus, while the magicians fool us. Exactly. The word captures the
nonsensical nature of the magician's talk on stage and was incorporated into the
English language probably just on the strength of the rhyming sound of it.
Hocus-pocus, lovely.
Well, knowing its origin (from performing magicians in Europe), I'm sure
you will find hocus pocus easier to remember. You'll also learn where to put it
into use.
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