Magic words

A magic word is a signal. It tells everybody watching that the magic is arriving now, so they look up at the right moment. That is all it is for, and it is why saying one matters more than which one you say.

20 magic words, and the stories about them

Magic words come with histories that everybody repeats and almost nobody has checked. These are the stories as they are usually told, which is not the same as knowing they are true — so they are written here as stories, and if we find a source we will say so.

Abracadabra (ab-ra-ca-DAB-ra)

The story goes that it is the oldest one of all, and that people once carved it into a triangle as a charm. Nobody has shown us the carving.

Hocus Pocus (HO-cus PO-cus)

Said to come from travelling conjurers in England, a few hundred years ago. Nobody is sure what it first meant, which is rather nice.

Presto (PRESS-toe)

It is the Italian word for "quickly": musicians use it to mean play fast, and magicians to mean look now.

Alakazam (al-a-ka-ZAM)

A stage word with no meaning at all, which is exactly why it sounds good. Where it came from, nobody agrees.

Kazam (ka-ZAM)

Alakazam cut short: a short, loud one. Good for a trick that finishes all at once.

Presto… ish (PRESS-toe ish)

Flick's own, for when it does not quite work. Every magician needs one of these.

Voilà (vwah-LAH)

French for "there it is". Say it as you show the thing that changed.

Hey presto (hay PRESS-toe)

The way presto is often said in Britain, with a "hey" in front to make everybody look.

Ta-da (ta-DAH)

The sound of a fanfare, the trumpets that play when something big appears. Arms up when you say it.

Allez-oop (AL-ay OOP)

A call from the circus, from the French "allez", meaning go. Good for a trick that jumps.

Open sesame (OH-pen SES-a-mee)

The words that open a secret cave in the old story of Ali Baba. Good for a box or an envelope.

Zim-zam-zoom (ZIM ZAM ZOOM)

Flick's own. Three beats, getting louder, and the trick happens on the zoom.

Fizz-whizz (FIZZ WHIZZ)

Flick's own, for the Potion Lab: say it over a glass before it changes colour.

Wibble-wobble (WIB-ul WOB-ul)

Flick's own, for anything that bends or goes rubbery, like the Rubber Pencil.

Snickety-snap (SNIK-et-ee SNAP)

Flick's own, with a click of the fingers on the snap. Good for a card that jumps to the top.

Abra-ca-doodle (ab-ra-ca-DOO-dul)

Flick's own, half abracadabra and half a doodle, for tricks with a pencil and paper.

Bish-bash-bosh (BISH BASH BOSH)

British for "done, quickly". Flick says it after a trick that took no time at all.

Zippity-zing (ZIP-it-ee ZING)

Flick's own, for something that floats: say it slowly as it rises.

Hocus-focus (HO-cus FO-cus)

Flick's own, for a mind-reading trick: you pretend to focus very hard.

Shimmer-shine (SHIM-er SHINE)

Flick's own, for a glowing potion or a coin that appears, quiet and sparkly.

Making up your own, which is better

Make it fun to say out loud. If it is boring to say, you will stop saying it by the third trick.
Make it yours: your name backwards, your dog's name, a word from a language in your family.
Say it the same way every single time. The audience learns it, and then they say it with you.
Say it at the moment the magic happens, not before. The word is the signal, not the warm-up.

The Magician's Code

Five promises. They are promises rather than rules because a magician keeps them when nobody is watching, which is the whole point of them.

I will keep the secret.

Once somebody knows, the surprise is gone for ever — for them and for everybody they tell. Keeping it is how the next audience gets to feel amazed.

I will practise before I perform.

A trick shown too early is a trick spoiled. Practise until it is boring for you; that is when it becomes amazing for them.

I will not do the same trick twice for the same people.

The second time, they know where to look. Magicians have been losing tricks this way for hundreds of years.

I will never make a helper look silly.

The surprise is the point; the person helping is not the joke. If they get something wrong, it was your fault, out loud.

I will not say my magic is real.

Magic is a performance, like music or juggling. Saying it is real is the one thing that turns a lovely trick into a fib.

What magicians mean

Effect: What the audience sees. Not how it is done — that is the method.
Method: How it is really done. The effect is the story; the method is the machinery.
Patter: The words you say while you perform. Good patter is most of a good trick.
Misdirection: Sending attention somewhere else at the moment that matters. Usually it is your own eyes doing it.
Sleight of hand: A secret move made with your fingers. It takes days, not minutes, and the shop says so on the tricks that need it.
Self-working: A trick that needs no secret move at all: the maths or the setting up does the work.
Force: Making somebody choose the thing you wanted while they feel they chose freely.
Out: What you do when it goes wrong. Every trick in the shop has one, and a magician with an out is never stuck.
Palm: To hold something hidden in your hand while the hand looks empty.
Load: To secretly put something where it is about to be found.
Routine: Several tricks joined into one piece, with a beginning and an end.
Closer: The strongest trick, saved for last.
Reveal: The moment the magic arrives. Slow it down; it is what they came for.
Prop: Anything you use. In this shop, something already in the house.
Gimmick: A secret prop the audience never knows about — a hidden loop of string, a hole in a cup.
Stooge: A helper who is secretly in on it. The shop has none: every helper here is a real one.

Next: Magic School teaches the seven lessons behind all of this, and how to put on a magic show builds you a running order.