10 Fake Simpsons Words That Belong in the Dictionary

In 2001, the Homer Simpson expression "Doh!" was entered into The Oxford English Dictionary. Jeff Wysaski of guyism proposes that ten invented words from The Simpsons should be likewise formally incorporated into the English language. Example:

Embiggen: To make bigger or grow in size; a perfectly cromulent word

This graceful word can be attributed to town founder Jebediah Springfield. As the town motto goes, “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.” The word is used repeatedly throughout the 7th season episode in which all of Springfield comes down with a major case of Jebeditis (another excellent candidate for this list) during the town’s bicentennial celebration. Adding credibility to the word is the fact that it has appeared in numerous scientific publications since the episode aired.

Simpsons fans can’t think of “embiggen” without thinking of the other fake word used to describe it: cromulent. Clearly, this word should be included on this list as well – if it weren’t for the fact that the Webster’s American dictionary added it to their “New Millenium” edition a few years ago. The official definition: fine, acceptable.


Link via Digg | Image: Fox

I'm inordinately pleased that "cromulent" made it into the dictionary. And a little disappointed that the article fails to mention how Flickr yoinked "embiggen" for one of their slideshow options ("Embiggen small images to fill the screen").

-T
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"neologism" doesn't mean "fake word". It means "new word" and it comes from the Greek "neo", "new" and "logos", which means "word". A quick wikipedia search would have told the article writer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism

If one write about this stuff one should first know what one writes about. (Not criticising the neatorama post, but the linked article)
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