What does LA LA LAND mean? Learn American Idioms and Slang

18

- Oh my gosh,

that girl is off in La La Land.

- Welcome to Sozo Exchange Vocabulary Challenge.

My name is Susan and I’m your host.

On this show we ask people from all walks of life

to explain the meanings

of various American English phrases

and slang expressions.

Today’s word isLa La Land.”

We are going to ask three people

to explain what it means, how it's used,

and who uses it.

Now, let me introduce the people who are participating

in today’s vocabulary challenge:

Spankie, Chandler and Rod.

They are all YouTubers.

Okay, let’s begin today’s Vocabulary Challenge.

Could you explain what the wordLa La Landmeans?

- The definition of "La La Land".

Well, I think it's, there's two definitions for it.

One, I live in Los Angeles and I know a lot of people

refer to L.A. as La La Land.

And the second one, I think people use it

when someone's head, they're kind of acting

a little spacey or a little strange and they say, like,

"Oh, they're off in La La Land right now."

- La La Land, I mean, the first thing

I think of is the movie, La La Land which is really good.

I like it, it's my favorite, one of my favorites.

But, to go further than thatI would think La La Land

is, obviously, Los Angeles and La La Land is a place

for dreams and a place for imaginations to come true.

That's immediately what I think of when I think of La La Land.

- La La Land is the place

a person's mind goes when it's too idealistic.

And nothing can go wrong

and all the conditions are just perfect for what they want.

- Great answers!

Now, let’s recap the meanings

of the wordLa La Land.”

La La Land is a noun that has a several meanings.

It’s a nickname for Los Angeles or Hollywood.

Los Angeles can be abbreviated as LA, hence La-La Land.

In general, people associate

Hollywood with the Film industry

where you see famous movie stars

and their lavish lifestyle.

The wordLa La Landalso means a state of mind

that is out of touch with reality like dreaming

and it may have a negative connotation in some cases.

Spankie used the wordspacey,”

which is a slang expression to describe someone who is

out of touch with reality.

Here’s the next question:

Can you give us an example of how the word

La La Landis used in a sentence?

- An example of La La Land would be

if someone is like, they wanna, maybe they have like

a huge dream or aspiration and it sounds crazy to most people,

or they have some kind of idea and they're just like,

"Oh my gosh, that girl is off in La La Land."

- La La Land in a sentence, well,

I would imagine it would probably be, oh, I don't know,

maybe some younger guy with kinda sorta long hair

and a white shirt, back in Florida a couple years back

and talking to their parents, like, saying:

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna go to La La Land

"and make my dreams become reality."

That's what I think; I'm not talking about

anybody specific though,

but definitely something like that.

- So, I'm a musician, so people tell me this all the time,

that hey, you gotta get your head out of La La Land,

you have bills to pay, and responsibilities.

You can't just stay in the studio all day.

- I like their answers

because they gave us very specific examples.

Alright, here’s our final question:

Could you describe the type of people

who use the wordLa La Land”?

- Alright, the type of people who I usually

hear use this, I think it's like a little bit of

an older generation, so like, in their 30's, 40's,

maybe even 50's, I've heard like,

grandparents, even, using it.

So I think it was something that came around a long time ago

that's not necessarily used in younger cultures.

Maybe?

- People who use the word La La Land.

I would think people who do use the word La La Land

definitely are talking about Los Angeles in a positive light.

People who are really...

People who really love the culture.

And people who really love the environment of Los Angeles.

It's a positive thing that I believe the term La La Land.

It's something that really inspires dreamers

and really inspires imagination.

And yeah, I think it's a good thing.

- I tend to see a lot of old rockers.

So, maybe, 50 to 60's or above, and generally male,

saying things like,

hey, gotta get your head out of La La Land.

Or that guy's in La La Land right now.

- I think they did a great job.

What do you think?

I hope you were able to understand their answers.

Also, make sure to check out their YouTube channels.

You can find the links to their channels in the description below.

That’s it for today and thank you for watching!