Footnotes to the TV series
LORELAI: Oh, I’m a Bedouin. I’m homeless!
The Bedouin, nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. Originating in the Syrian Desert and Arabian Desert, they spread across the rest of the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa after the spread of Islam. The English word Bedouin comes from the Arabic badawī, meaning “desert dweller”.
RORY: So you’ve been incommunicado lately.
Incommunicado, not able to communicate with others, either by choice or circumstances. From Latin, adopted into English via Spanish.
BABETTE: Hey Michel, I just hit F4 and the num lock key and the one with the little apple on it and it’s freaking out like it’s on acid or something.
MICHEL: Oy vey.
On acid, slang for taking the hallucinogenic drug LSD. (Babette seems to have hit the dashboard, the number lock, and the command key all at once, so the screen starts scrolling).
Oy vey, interjection used to express dismay, frustration, or grief. It is borrowed from Yiddish, loosely meaning “Oh woe is me”.
[Kirk holds a tee shirt up]
LORELAI: [reads] “Faux Poes foes.”
Faux is French for “false”. It is often used in English, to mean “artificial, imitation”, such as “faux pearls”. It is a homonym of the English word “foe”.
RORY: But how are you gonna make Young Chui dump you? Just be a really bad date?
LANE: Oh, no, we’ve already talked to him. He’s totally on board … See, he’s in love with this Japanese girl named Karen who his parents don’t approve of, so he and Karen see each other secretly while his parents keep setting him up with nice Korean girls. He’s the male me.
Conveniently, the Korean boy Lane has been set up with already has a Japanese girlfriend named Karen, kept secret from his parents because they don’t approve of him dating non-Korean girls. Karen is a Japanese girl’s name meaning “lotus flower”.
LORELAI: [from upstairs] Rory? … Toute de suite, and I don’t mean the candy.
Toute de suite, French for “immediately, right away”.
Lorelai makes a pun on “Toot Sweets”, a song from the British 1968 family musical fantasy film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, directed by Ken Hughes, and screenplay by Roald Dahl, loosely based on the 1964 novel by Ian Fleming, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car. The film stars Dick Van Dyke as a widowed inventor named Caractactus Potts raising two children.
While trying to raise funds, Potts tries to market several failed inventions, including a musical hard candy you can whistle, which only turns out to attract stray dogs. It is that point that he and many others of the cast sing “Toot Sweets”. Later, Potts is able to become rich by selling the idea to a sweets maker, who markets them as Woof Sweets.
A real candy you could whistle called Melody Pops began being manufactured in the UK in the 1970s, seemingly inspired by Toots Sweets.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was adapted into a musical for the London West End in 2002, and became a Broadway production in 2005.
LORELAI: Déjà vu, huh?
RORY: Déjà vu.
Déjà vu, French loanword (literally “already seen”) for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before. It is an illusion of memory whereby – despite a strong sense of recollection – the time, place, and context of the “previous” experience are uncertain or impossible. Approximately two-thirds of people report experiencing déjà vu at least once in their lives.
Lorelai and Rory use the word jokingly to refer to the fact that they have each recently caught the other one kissing their boyfriend, causing some awkwardness.
EMILY: And then she just brushed me off with a wave of her regal hand. Not even a word, just a . . . like I’m her cabana boy. Next thing you know, instead of just walking out of the room, she’ll make me bow and back out. Imperious attitude, she never gives it a rest. I schlepped her to the doctor the other day – by command, not request – and the elevator operator there greeted us nice and friendly. Her doctor’s on the second floor and by the time we got there, that operator was in tears.
In North America, a cabana is a hut, cabin, or shelter at beach or swimming pool, often part of a resort. They can be quite elaborate or luxurious. The word comes from the Spanish for “hut, cabin”. A cabana boy [pictured] is a young male attendant who serves guests from the cabana – typically, these young men are treated like servants by the wealthy, and will be willing to do many little tasks for them in the hopes of receiving tips or favours in return.
Schlepped: Informal American English, meaning “walked or proceeded somewhere in a reluctant manner, typically in the fulfilment of some unwanted burden or duty”. It is from the Yiddish shlepn, meaning “pull, drag”.
Trix moved back to her house in Hartford in January 2003, citing health concerns. It’s only early February, and she is already driving Emily up the wall, treating her like a servant.
Note that Trix had a doctor’s appointment, as a reminder that her health needs monitoring. By the way, Trix previously said that she couldn’t abide women driving, so how did Emily transport her to the doctor’s office?
LORELAI: Leilani, huh? Very exotic name.
EMILY: She’s from Honolulu.
Honolulu, the capital and largest city of the state of Hawaii. Honolulu’s tropical climate, natural scenery, and extensive beaches make it a popular destination for tourists.
Leilani is a popular Hawaiian name (technically unisex, but nearly always given to girls) which can be translated as either “heavenly flowers” or “royal child”.
Lauren Graham was born in Honolulu, and this is yet another reference to her home state on Gilmore Girls.
RORY: Looks like Italy for us!
LORELAI: Mamma mia!
Mamma mia, an Italian interjection of surprise, literally meaning “my mom/mum”, possibly in reference to the Virgin Mary.
Lorelai may be thinking of the 1975 ABBA song, “Mamma Mia”, from their self-titled third album. It went to #32 in the US, but was #1 in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, and West Germany. It is widely considered one of their best songs, although in a deleted scene of Gilmore Girls, Lorelai refers to it as an earworm.
It is possibly a little insensitive to say this is front of Emily, given that Lorelai ran away from home to work for Mia, who she regards as a beloved mother figure.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 