Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Spinal Tap |
Spinal TapNoun1. Removal by centesis of fluid from the subarachnoid space of the lumbar region of the spinal cord for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | A procedure in which a needle is put into the lower part of the spinal column to collect cerebrospinal fluid or to give anticancer drugs intrathecally. Also called a lumbar puncture. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Spinal Tap is a fictitious heavy metal rock band, created for the 1984 Rob Reiner film, This Is Spinal Tap. The film was a make-believe documentary (a "rockumentary", as Reiner coined it) that satirized bands like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith. The band's name is officially spelled with an diaeresis (two dots) over the letter 'n' (a construction that does not exist in any actual language, and is not available in HTML text) to satirize the use of "heavy metal umlauts" in the names of other heavy metal bands such as Motörhead.
The band was originally created by actors and comedians Michael McKean (as David St. Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnel) and Harry Shearer (as Derek Smalls) for a 1978 ABC comedy special, The TV Show. Soon after, the three comedians teamed up with Reiner to turn the idea into a full-length film. Much of the film was ad-libbed, and several dozen hours of footage were shot before Reiner edited it down to the released film. A nine hour bootleg version of the film exists and has been traded around between fans and collectors for years. The most recent DVD editions of the film include one hour of deleted footage as an extra feature.
The film starred — in addition to the three members of Spinal Tap and Reiner, who appeared as the maker of the documentary — Paul Shaffer, Fred Willard, Fran Drescher, Bruno Kirby, Howard Hesseman, and Ed Begley Jr. Dana Carvey, Anjelica Huston, and Billy Crystal also had small roles in the film.
Spinal Tap reunited in 1992 for an album of new material, partly produced by T-Bone Burnett, and a concert tour.
They later made a guest appearance in the television cartoon show The Simpsons, on which Harry Shearer is a cast member.
In 2000 a new song, "Back from the Dead" was made available for download from (external link) the official Spinal Tap website.
In 2002 the United States Library of Congress deemed the original film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Spinal Tap."
Synonyms: Spinal TapSynonyms: lumbar puncture (n), spinal puncture (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Well, aside from the fact that most magic shop owners in Sunnydale have the life expectancy of a Spinal Tap drummer, have you ever run a store before? (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Movie/TV Titles | This Is Spinal Tap (1984) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | A spinal tap may be performed to obtain fluid to study these factors. (references) | |
Periodic follow-up exams, including a spinal tap, are required for 2 years. (references) | ||
Spinal tap. About one-fourth of the people who undergo a lumbar puncture or spinal tap develop a headache. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "spinal tap"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Russian | пункция спинного мозга. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-i-l-n-p-p-s-t" | |
-1 letter: platinas. | |
-2 letters: papains, pastina, patinas, pinatas, plaints, platans, platina, salpian, saltpan, spatial, taipans. | |
-3 letters: alants, appals, aslant, instal, lanais, lapins, lianas, nasial, paints, paisan, palais, papain, papist, pastil, patina, patins, pinata, pintas, pipals, plains, plaint, plaits, plants, platan, pliant, ptisan, salina, spinal, spital, splint, taipan. | |
-4 letters: alans, alant, alias, alist, anils, anlas, antas, antis. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-i-l-n-p-p-s-t" | |
+1 letter: applicants, palpations. | |
+3 letters: appellations, applications, appositional, palpitations, postprandial. | |
+4 letters: postlapsarian, supplantation. | |
+5 letters: misapplication, reapplications, supplantations. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Anagrams | 9. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
