Roots of the word have been defined, as Richard Lederer writes in his book Crazy English as follows: super- "above," cali- "beauty," fragillistic- "delicate," expeali- "to atone," and docious- "educable," with the sum of these parts signifying roughly "Atoning for educatability through delicate beauty." This explication of its connotations suits the fictional of Mary Poppins, in that she presents herself as both superlatively beautiful and also supremely intelligent and capable of great achievements.
I did not know this word had a meaning...did you?
Posted by Rita at November 11, 2007 12:12 PM