There are some songs that get so deeply embedded in our memories, we sing the words with ease. Many times, we don’t even question the lyrics or their meaning; we just belt them earnestly as the songwriters intended. But every now and again, there are tunes that, if you actually think about their meanings, can be total head-scratchers. That’s because they, oftentimes, contain “nonce words.”

In a recent Threads post, a person seemed to ponder the 1973 hit “The Joker,” by the Steve Miller Band. It wasn’t the “midnight toker” or “space cowboy” that confused them. Instead, they asked, “Can anyone explain what the ‘pompatus’ of love is? It’s been 50 years and I still don’t know.” It’s a good question, and really one that only Steve Miller and his co-writers could answer.

The comments, and there were nearly 900 of them, were equally........

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