Comments on: The word unblowupable is thrown around a lot these days.

The word unblowupable is thrown around a lot these days.

riffola — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:26:09 -0800

HeiDeas' “Beyond embiggens and cromulent” explores the linguistic humour that appear in The Simpsons.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:38:09 -0800

This is great. Sometimes the show just slays me. I don't tend to like the Treehouse of Horrors, but last night when the dolphins took over Springfield and Mayor Quimby said: "We're all frightened and horny, but we can't let some killer dolphins keep us from living and scoring," it almost made me plotz! I'm still giggling today. Almost as good as breezeway's cat picture.

By: found missing

found missing — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:41:11 -0800

Moe says, "You know what I blame this on the breakdown of? Society!"

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:41:33 -0800

Me fail English? That's unpossible!

By: gwint

gwint — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:50:20 -0800

Whoa, slow down, Egghead!

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:50:28 -0800

This is an outstanding link. I'm enjoying it as a linguistics geek and as a Simpsons fan. Thanks!

By: milov

milov — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:51:17 -0800

Simpsons = Linguistics Humor, whereas Futurama = Mathematicians Humor?

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:52:47 -0800

Imagine, for a moment, life without The Simpsons. It would totally suck.

By: bobo123

bobo123 — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:03:54 -0800

I laughed at Homer's use of the word "cactii" (and I recall Burns once giving out "bonii" to his employees). I stopped using the word "virii" after that.

By: ORthey

ORthey — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:03:59 -0800

A really, truly sad thought: We are approaching a point where there will be as many bad seasons of the Simpsons as there were good ones.

By: Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:04:17 -0800

Planet Simpson is a good read for Simpsons wonks.

By: aaronetc

aaronetc — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:07:10 -0800

Futurama had its share of language humor, too. "From now on, I'm gonna bend what I want, when I want, who I want!"

By: brownpau

brownpau — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:11:32 -0800

I award this post the Second Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence!

By: Verdant

Verdant — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:15:50 -0800

Moe: "The GARAGE" Hey, fellas, "the GARAGE". Well, oh-la-di-da, Mr. Frenchman. Homer: What do you call it? Moe: A carhole.

By: Lazlo Hollyfeld

Lazlo Hollyfeld — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:18:49 -0800

Dr. Nick: Inflammable means flammable? What a country!

By: painquale

painquale — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:22:47 -0800

The spectrograms on Marge's disapproving growl are over the top. It is apparently a possibly creaky-voiced bilabial nasal with a very narrow somethingo-pharyngeal secondary articulation and falling tone.

By: Stonewall Jackson

Stonewall Jackson — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:27:53 -0800

A really, truly sad thought: We are approaching a point where 50% of everything everyone says will be either direct quotes from The Simpsons or takeoffs thereof.

By: slapshot57

slapshot57 — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:32:21 -0800

I didn't do it

By: emptybowl

emptybowl — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:42:19 -0800

Network Exec: Lisa, Bart's got something you can't learn in school...ZAZ! Lisa: What is Zaz? Network Exec: Zing, Zork, Kapowza, call it what you want, in any language it spells Mazooma in the bank! Lisa: Zork!? What is Zork!? Network Exec: I didn't say Zork.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:11:09 -0800

This is fun, if only for the chance to read these clever jokes again - but am I the only one put off by the constant "character x says something like" to introduce the actual quotes that are supposedly the whole point of the whole pseudo-pedantic exercise? They seem pretty close to exact, but I feel like, jeez, could you have bothered to look up that script on the Internet before posting this?

By: ORthey

ORthey — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:12:04 -0800

A really, truly sad thought: We are approaching a point where 50% of everything everyone says will be either direct quotes from The Simpsons or takeoffs thereof. See, I think this isn't sad. I think it's awesome.

By: gompa

gompa — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:14:22 -0800

In a way, you're both winners. In another, more accurate way, Barney's the winner.

By: nobody

nobody — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:29:16 -0800

soyjoy: but I feel like, jeez, could you have bothered to look up that script on the Internet before posting this? I tried googling for a script of the episode she mentions in which Lisa builds a grammar robot. I would think every episode would be online? No?

By: petebest

petebest — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:29:18 -0800

Dr. Hibbert: You have twenty-four hours to live. Homer: Twenty-four hours! Dr. Hibbert: Well, twenty-two. I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long.

By: gompa

gompa — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:56:23 -0800

nobody: There's a skeleton script of that episode at The Simpsons Archive, which is the internet's largest repository of Simpsons info. They have these skeleton scripts for every episode up to midway through Season 13. I suspect they keep 'em skeletal to maintain a detente with Fox's lawyers (damn their oily hides!). Also, in my completely unbiased opinion, Armitage Shanks is absolutely right about Planet Simpson. It is a simply brilliant work of pop-cultural reportage.

By: barjo

barjo — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 14:27:45 -0800

Futurama had its share of language humor, too. "Hey look! It's that guy you are!"

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 16:23:58 -0800

I, for one, welcome our new overlord-welcoming overlords.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 17:09:51 -0800

The drug name Focusin always gives me a chuckle. And the time when the exchange student(?) Pepe(?) praised Homer about being so "learned"... and then Homer wrongly corrects his pronunciation of "learned". Sorry, "wrongly corrects". I meant to say "unameliorates".

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 17:24:53 -0800

Futurama also provides regional idiom humor: Fry: "Good old Coney Island College! Go Whitefish!"

By: Stonewall Jackson

Stonewall Jackson — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 05:45:31 -0800

> See, I think this isn't sad. I think it's awesome. Don't get me wrong. I love the Simpsons, and have since the shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show. I am that show's bitch until the sad day it finally goes off the air. BUT...sometimes I get the feeling that people are using the show as a crutch rather than actually thinking for themselves in conversation (i.e. Can't think of anything to say? Quote The Simpsons!). Y'know?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 06:11:58 -0800

A random quote from The Simpsons or even Futurama or The Family Guy is still better than what most people actually have to say. Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't *nothing*?

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 17:00:19 -0800

Don't get me wrong. I love the Simpsons, and have since the shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show. I am that show's bitch until the sad day it finally goes off the air. BUT...sometimes I get the feeling that people are using the show as a crutch rather than actually thinking for themselves in conversation... ??? [pause] [condescending] Yes, Stonewall. Daddy's a teacher.

By: Lush

Lush — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 20:35:04 -0800

Citations like "productive derivational morphology" get tedious after a while, and "back-formation and productive derivational morphology with -ahol(ic)" is just pushing it, but I speak as a non-linguist. It's a great list nonetheless. Another site, Subtly Simpsons, showcases some of the more obscure references and sly social commentary.

Bart and Lisa sitting together on bus. Lisa is reading a children's book titled "Love in the time of Coloring Books". Reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the time of Cholera". Mocking the unrealistic literary awareness Lisa is empowered with. Episode: Bart and Lisa get lost. Troy McLure: Coming up this hour on the Impulse Buying Network, your chance to own a piece of Itchy and Scratchy, the toontown twosome beloved by everyone -- even cynical members of Generation X! Gen Xer: [watching at home] Pfft, yeah. "Groovy". [Uses his fingers to make the quotation marks signs] Beautifully mocks how we (Generation X-ers) make everything "ironic" (and thus "cool") by putting everything in quotation marks. Also, note the Java Lamp in the background of the Gen X-er's room. And the whole episode, it is worth noting, is a spoof on The Graduate Episode: 1F21, Lady Bouvier's Lover, when Grandpa and Marge's mother date Carl [To the MENSA members]: Lets make litter of the literati! Lenny: That was too clever! You're one of them! [punches him] Episode: AABF18, They Saved Lisa's Brain