Hans Christian Andersen, whose fairy tale the film is based upon, wrote about a little mermaid: “nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea.”
In the Walt Disney movie, Ariel—the mermaid—is a collector of “human stuff”: gadgets, gizmos, whozits, whatzits, thingamabobs… In a way, her collection represents her interest on the world above. But she doesn’t know what most of the objects are for, so, when looking for some advice about a fork and a pipe, she relies on the explanations—and funny names—that her seagull friend Scuttle tells her. When she is among the humans, she uses them the way she’s been told… erroneously.
Ariel — Shhh… [Seeing a fork.] Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?
Flounder — Wow, cool! But, err, what is it?
Ariel — I don’t know. But I bet Scuttle will.
Flounder — What was that? Did you hear something?
Ariel — [Distracted by pipe.] Hmm, I wonder what this one is?[...]
Ariel — Scuttle – look what we found.
Flounder — Yeah – we were in this sunken ship – it was really creepy.
Scuttle — Human stuff, huh? Hey, let me see. (Picks up fork.) Look at this. Wow – this is special – this is very, very unusual.
Ariel — What? What is it?
Scuttle — It’s a dinglehopper! Humans use these little babies to straighten their hair out. See – just a little twirl here an’ a yank there and – voilá! You got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over!
Ariel — A dinglehopper!
Flounder — What about that one?
Scuttle — (Holding pipe) Ah – this I haven’t seen in years. This is wonderful! A banded, bulbous – snarfblat.
Ariel and Flounder — Oohhh.
Scuttle — Now, the snarfblat dates back to prehistorical times, when humans used to sit around, and stare at each other all day. Got very boring. So, they invented the snarfblat to make fine music. Allow me.
The beginning of the song “Part of Your World” refers to the collection:
Ariel — If only I could make him understand. I just don’t see things the way he does. I don’t see how a world that makes such wonderful things – could be bad.
Look at this stuff
Isn’t it neat?
Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?
Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl
The girl who has ev’rything?
Look at this trove
Treasures untold
How many wonders can one cavern hold?
Lookin’ around here you’d think
Sure, she’s got everythingI’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty
I’ve got whozits and whatzits galore
(You want thingamabobs?
I got twenty)
But who cares?
No big deal
I want more
Thanks to Anna Ibarz and Clàudia Brufau for the tip.