ABC-DEF-GHI

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ABC-DEF-GHI is a song sung by Big Bird of Sesame Street. It is also erroneously known as Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.

[edit] Appearance

After finding the Latin alphabet written in chalk on the sidewalk, in one episode, Big Bird mistakes it for a very long word ("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"). With marching band-like accompaniment, he breaks into song, pronouncing the "word", as /æbkədəfgidʒəkəlmənapkwərstuvwɪksɪz/ His brilliance as a bird, he thinks, will become known to all the world if he can ascertain the word's meaning.

A verse lists Big Bird's assumptions of what the word might mean:

It might be a kind of an elephant

Or a funny kind of kazoo

Or a strange, exotic turtle

That you'd never see in a zoo

It might maybe a kind of a doggie

Or particular shade of blue

Or maybe a pretty flower

Naah, not with a name like that, uh-uh!

The bridge illustrates the daunting task of trying to spell, let alone pronounce the word:

It starts out like an A word, as anyone can see

But somewhere in the middle, it gets awful queer to me.

Apparently in some versions, Big Bird's friends appear and Big Bird tries to stand on the chalked "word", as he thinks to himself, nonverbally, "Oh no! Now all my friends will find out about the abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (as he thinks the word to himself, he pronounces it "(/æbkədəfgidʒəkəlmənapkwərstuvwɪksɪz/)") and my fame will not be published throughout the streets of Sesame!". However, his friends manage to worm him into getting off the chalked word and they, together, explore the skullduggery of finding out its meaning. After much guessing, they finally learn that it is the alphabet.

In Sesame Street's TV series, Big Bird describes to Susan that he is "using signs to practice learning words" by "going up and down Sesame Street reading all the signs". After reading the signs "Sesame Street", "Stop", "Sale Yarn" and then says but there's a word I saw today, and I can hardly say it and I sure don't know what it means. He tells her it's "(/æb kədəf ghi dʒəkəl mənap kwərstu vwɪksɪz/)"), and she can't figure out what he's talking about until he shows her the alphabet printed in white letters on a green chalkboard. ^[1]

[edit] See also

• The Alphabet song