A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man

October 18, 2005 2:00 AM

Words invented by the Simpsons, as found on Wikipedia. Some soul with too much time on their hands has taken up the task of listing all the nonsense words invented on the Simpsons. The number of words from this list that I use on a daily basis is ASTOUNDING.
posted by antifuse (86 comments total)

Speaking of "I for one, welcome our new (insert word) overlords" -- the wiki author says:

"This phrase has gained wide popularity on Slashdot.org, and FARK.com, appearing in many threads, especially those discussing potentially troubling new technologies or laws."

Come Fucking ON! this is a travesty folks!
posted by punkbitch at 2:12 AM on October 18, 2005

Hahaha, I just called my girlfriend a kwyjibo last night.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 2:14 AM on October 18, 2005

They missed killbot.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 2:16 AM on October 18, 2005

If you're using an alarming number of these words daily, you need to reexamine your daily vocabulary and make some changes.
posted by mr.dan at 2:35 AM on October 18, 2005

Too much time on their hands? Come on, it's a perfectly cromulent endeavor.
posted by neckro23 at 2:35 AM on October 18, 2005

The entry on Bort was particularly enlightening. It's description within my lexicon grows daily, though. Ditto with 'snuh', 'buh', 'smendlers' [sometimes in pronoun form], and 'glayvin'. Remarkably, I have not re-dorkulated to Frink-esqe levels nor has my skin yet cartoonalized -- that currently that wouldn't be such a bad thing... blasted tequila acne.

Never underestimate a frothy fanbase.
posted by phylum sinter at 2:45 AM on October 18, 2005

they listed saxomophone, which makes up for them listing "meh," which simply did not originate on the show.
posted by shmegegge at 3:03 AM on October 18, 2005

Now the smug teachers who exclaim about the vast reach of Shakespeare's coinage have a challenge: FoxTV's least grateful stepchild.

Stow your sonnets, jerkface.
posted by NinjaPirate at 3:05 AM on October 18, 2005

"This phrase has gained wide popularity on Slashdot.org, and FARK.com, appearing in many threads, especially those discussing potentially troubling new technologies or laws."

Come Fucking ON! this is a travesty folks!

I fixed it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:28 AM on October 18, 2005

Well, that's my vocabulary embiggened.
posted by scaryduck at 3:31 AM on October 18, 2005

Never underestimate a frothy fanbase.

Senator Rick Santorum certainly doesn't...
posted by Enron Hubbard at 3:36 AM on October 18, 2005

Without this post I'd have missed Scotchtoberfest! Thanks, MeFi.
posted by cali at 3:43 AM on October 18, 2005

Interestingly, "unpossible" appears in Shakespeare's Richard II, Act 2, Scene 2: Line 129!
posted by R. Mutt at 4:24 AM on October 18, 2005

A post to a Wiki, on made up words? This is craptacular.
posted by caddis at 4:31 AM on October 18, 2005

The entry on Bort was particularly enlightening.

Yeah, I like that one too.
posted by Bort at 4:37 AM on October 18, 2005

Caddis: I feel I'm a bit too trigger-happy with the "shitty FPP" comments lately, but I have to say I agree. Every time I see a one-link-to-Wikipedia post, I groan. And that's because I spend three-quarters of my work day contributing there.

Some soul with too much time on their hands has taken up the task of listing all the nonsense words invented on the Simpsons.

Methinks antifuse doesn't understand wiki. That article has had thousands of edits by hundreds of users, and started with only four words as a merge of four separate articles.
posted by Plutor at 4:41 AM on October 18, 2005

Now the smug teachers who exclaim about the vast reach of Shakespeare's coinage have a challenge: FoxTV's least grateful stepchild.

This will only work once the show is off the air-- otherwise the teachers will have to explain that the show wasn't always written on a formula with weak references to current events to make mouthbreathers think that it's edgy.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:44 AM on October 18, 2005

Worst. Post. Ever. I, for one, welcome our new shitty-posting overlords.

Totally kidding, obviously.
posted by Hildegarde at 4:54 AM on October 18, 2005

Rarely watching the show, I had no idea it was the origin of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." How enlightening.
posted by alumshubby at 4:59 AM on October 18, 2005

Plutor, I actually meant that comment as a compliment to the post. Normally a single post to a Wiki article would be crappy. However, this is a neat little Wiki article, more like a quirky fan page than a typical encyclopedia style article, not what you would expect or even look for in the Wiki. Were it not in the form of a Wiki it would most certainly be thought of as an interesting, post-worthy site. It is lots of fun. Antifuse has taken what should be crap and found the gem, craptacular.
posted by caddis at 5:07 AM on October 18, 2005

Well wouldntcha know? I thought I had ingeniously coined the word superliminal in conversation just last night. I thought I was being clever. The Simpsons outdid me.
posted by penguin pie at 5:33 AM on October 18, 2005

Thank goodness someone has that much time on their hands! That page gave me many moments of giddy pleasure last night while reading them. Excellent work, authors!
posted by doublehelix at 5:36 AM on October 18, 2005

A post to a Wiki, on made up words? This is craptacular.

I actually meant that comment as a compliment to the post.

Caddis: Ah, I was under the impression that craptacular was a bad thing, something like "spectacularly crappy".
posted by Plutor at 5:43 AM on October 18, 2005

Speaking as the noble soul who first noticed Sticktoitiveness in an episode of She-Ra, and altered the wiki accordingly, it's about time my genius was recognised.
posted by Swandive at 5:58 AM on October 18, 2005

They forgot "Doh!"
posted by you just lost the game at 6:00 AM on October 18, 2005

Oh, wait. No, they didn't.

D'oh!
posted by you just lost the game at 6:01 AM on October 18, 2005

Hey, you just lost the game pulled a homer!!
posted by Pendragon at 6:08 AM on October 18, 2005

Oh, wait. No, he didn't.

"To succeed despite idiocy"

D'oh!
posted by Pendragon at 6:10 AM on October 18, 2005

D'oh wasn't invented for the show. It's a regional expression.

Also, sticktoitiveness wasn't invented for She-Ra. It's been around since the Bing Crosby era.
posted by Miko at 6:13 AM on October 18, 2005

On "I, for one, welcome our...."

The actual quote is from a movie called Empire of the Ants, a '70s science fiction film in which huge, mind-controlling ants try to take over the world. Following its use on The Simpsons, paraphrasing this expression has become a common internet meme or snowclone, especially when commenting on a situation of control.

This phrase has gained wide popularity on MetaFilter.com, Slashdot.org, and FARK.com, appearing in many threads, especially those discussing potentially troubling new technologies or laws.


Metafilter: The bleeding edge of internet memedom.
posted by voltairemodern at 6:18 AM on October 18, 2005

More on D'ohDan Castellenata's explanation is perfect.</
posted by Miko at 6:19 AM on October 18, 2005

...Clearly I need more coffee.
posted by Miko at 6:20 AM on October 18, 2005

Damn, that was a brief moment of genius recognition.
posted by Swandive at 6:27 AM on October 18, 2005

Meh.
posted by ColdChef at 6:41 AM on October 18, 2005

I don't see "...Y'ellooh?" which I answer the phone with all the time when I think it's God calling.
posted by Smedleyman at 6:54 AM on October 18, 2005

Let's go edumacate ourselves on dat Simpsons.
posted by elpapacito at 7:02 AM on October 18, 2005

Speaking of 'I for one, welcome our new (insert word) overlords'

I can't help but feel partially responsible.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:04 AM on October 18, 2005 [1 favorite]

They forgot "Ahoy-hoy!"

Yes, technically it was Alexander Graham Bell and/or nineteenth-century sailors who coined it, but it'd never have returned to common usage if not for the efforts of C. Montgomery Burns.
posted by gompa at 7:12 AM on October 18, 2005

They missed killbot.

Sure "killbot" is from Killbots, aka Chopping Mall (where shopping costs you an arm and a leg).

Is it only around Chez Xenophobe that people prepare a sumptuous repast, look at it, and proclaim "This should provide adequate sustenance for the Dr. Who marathon!"?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:13 AM on October 18, 2005

Also, sticktoitiveness wasn't invented for She-Ra. It's been around since the Bing Crosby era.

It's certainly been around since Eddie Lawrence used it in his 'old philosopher' bit in 1956.
posted by davelog at 7:19 AM on October 18, 2005

Forget the Simpsons, here's the Nadsat lexicon from A Clockwork Orange.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:24 AM on October 18, 2005

I clearly remember Daffy Duck saying, "I like a kid with sticktoitiveness..., but how sticky can you get??" -- would be the '50s, at the latest.
posted by LordSludge at 7:40 AM on October 18, 2005

This is an impressive list, and I for one for another had not noticed how many of these had already creeped into my vocabulary.

Another fun list would be all the Metafilter members whose usernames come from The Simpsons. I can think of three, other than Bort, off the top of my head.
posted by soyjoy at 8:01 AM on October 18, 2005

"Cromulent" has since appeared in the Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English.

Oh. My. Lord.
posted by redbeard at 8:01 AM on October 18, 2005

I just lost The Game. Had a pretty good run going, too. My hat is off to you, you just lost the game.
posted by The Bellman at 8:14 AM on October 18, 2005

Well, if I achieved nothing else in this thread...and I didn't...
posted by you just lost the game at 8:23 AM on October 18, 2005

My favorite (and which is not listed) is "slashening," which is said by one of the teenagers in the arcade:

I never thought I'd get sick of "Razor Fight II: The Slashening"

Such a tremendously useful word.
posted by Ljubljana at 8:24 AM on October 18, 2005

Hahaha, I just called my girlfriend a kwyjibo last night.

Hahaha, my nephew calls my brother a kwyjibo pretty much daily.
posted by tvgurl at 8:27 AM on October 18, 2005

They don't have Homer's flipside to do'h: Woo-Hoo!

Wasn't that an original "word"? A modified 'yahoo', maybe?

A lot of those aren't even words, and should be deleted or added to a Simpsons catch phrase or reference section (Worst. __. Ever., Mmmm . . .__., overlord welcome, etc.). If Wikipedia should even have such entries.
posted by dgaicun at 8:36 AM on October 18, 2005

Jebus bless the internets.
posted by thanatogenous at 8:41 AM on October 18, 2005

Hahaha, I just called my girlfriend a kwyjibo last night.


Worst. Pillowtalk. Ever.
posted by iron chef morimoto at 8:42 AM on October 18, 2005

Hello!
posted by Gamblor at 8:46 AM on October 18, 2005

interesting aside...if you read the book "Planet Simpson" the author specifically mentions Metafilter as a place where Simpsons jargon is the lingua franca. Mr. Turner, stand up and embiggen yourself!
posted by Otis at 8:53 AM on October 18, 2005

Oh, man, iron chef morimoto wins The Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
posted by eriko at 9:01 AM on October 18, 2005

Balonium?
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:09 AM on October 18, 2005

Also, they're sposta have "sposta's", as in: "Looks like somebody's got a case of the sposta's!"

Housema
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:15 AM on October 18, 2005

I don't know where that "housema" came from. Haunted keyboard.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:15 AM on October 18, 2005

Miko - my brother and I swear that "doh" was originally from the Little Rascals. But I think Dan Castellenata's Laurel & Hardy reference with the Hal Roach connection is as close as we can get.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 9:17 AM on October 18, 2005

Hello!

Yep, that's one of the three. Now where's SSF these days? And mrsnrub? Who else am I missing?
posted by soyjoy at 9:28 AM on October 18, 2005

kirkaracha, I remember that-- rarely have I laughed so hard at such a perfectly placed Simpsons reference. It really took off in the subsequent thread about goats and spider silk, no? I feel a nostalgic tear rising at the memory, being present at the birth of a meme and all... It was indeed one of Mefi's finer moments, no matter how overused the joke became.
posted by jokeefe at 9:28 AM on October 18, 2005

"shazbot" came from the 1970's Robin Williams vehicle, the Mork and Mindy show.

And "nucular"? Eisenhower (among others) said it that way. (Which is why it is funny on the Simpsons.)
posted by telstar at 9:41 AM on October 18, 2005

I often lean back and sigh "enchiladas" as a sign of my extreme fullness, regardless of what I ate to make me so full.

Works on Contingency? No, Money Down!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:41 AM on October 18, 2005

Where are "velocitator" and "deceleratrix"?
posted by Lockjaw at 10:40 AM on October 18, 2005

"shazbot" came from the 1970's Robin Williams vehicle, the Mork and Mindy show.

And "nucular"? Eisenhower (among others) said it that way. (Which is why it is funny on the Simpsons.)

Um... did someone temporarily remove those facts from the page while you were looking at it? Or did you just want to highlight your favorite parts of what was already on the Wiki?
posted by soyjoy at 11:57 AM on October 18, 2005

Mr. Turner, stand up and embiggen yourself!

Sweet Jebus, I thought we'd decided anonymity was a sacred right in this community . . . On the other hand, I did start it with that MeFi reference in the book. And there's a new paperback out in the US this week, so any publicity's good publicity.

So anyhoo (which should also be on the list), that was me up there explaining Ahoy-hoy. I was going to correct the info in Miko's D'oh link as well, but you'll just have to buy the book for that.

On a sidenote, I've always regretted not choosing "Pops Freshenmeyer" as my username . . .
posted by gompa at 11:59 AM on October 18, 2005

Someone should make a Wikipedia page of imagined commercial products from the Simpsons. My favorites are "Cool Ranch Soda" and an unnamed(?) product labelled "nuts and gum--together at last!".
posted by neuron at 12:02 PM on October 18, 2005

There's another unnamed product that's introduced via voiceover on the Simpsons' TV thusly: "Finally, the great taste of Worcestershire sauce - in a soft drink!"

"Ahhh - steaky!"
posted by gompa at 12:21 PM on October 18, 2005

Just cleanin' up an unclosed tag. Nothin' to see here.
posted by gompa at 12:22 PM on October 18, 2005

gompa: Simpsons coined "anyhoo"? That's unpossible.
posted by soyjoy at 12:28 PM on October 18, 2005

Um... did someone temporarily remove those facts from the page while you were looking at it? Or did you just want to highlight your favorite parts of what was already on the Wiki?

Whoops. I thought the whole point was that the words originated on the Simpsons. But these didn't. So why are they on the list?
posted by telstar at 12:43 PM on October 18, 2005

Although it wasn't an actual product, you can't forget bacon's new friend: fudge!
posted by tommasz at 12:51 PM on October 18, 2005

This FPP is a double post of sorts -

I saw it on Interslice yesterday.
posted by hellbient at 12:51 PM on October 18, 2005

telstar - It is kind of a sloppily-defined list. I mean, "cheese," "eating," "surrender" and "monkeys" are all non-made-up words, for instance, but we've seen already here that some people may be glad to be informed where the whole phrase came from, so I guess that's the rationale for the looseness.
posted by soyjoy at 1:00 PM on October 18, 2005

This post misrepresents the article. It's not a list of words invented on the Simpsons (as the post claims twice), it's a list of invented words used on the Simpsons. Many of these have been around a long time.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:24 PM on October 18, 2005

You mean, invented word uses on the Simpsons?
posted by Atreides at 1:42 PM on October 18, 2005

I've no problems with the words like cromulent, craptacular (mebbe this post?) and embiggen. Is 'forty rods to the hogshead' a word? Didn't think so.
posted by fixedgear at 2:11 PM on October 18, 2005

Simpsons?
That's an odd name. I'd 'ave called 'em Chuzzwuzzahs.

< /shocked it was not included>
posted by paultron at 2:18 PM on October 18, 2005

You mean, Al Gore invented the Internet or the Internet invented Al Gore ?
posted by elpapacito at 3:37 PM on October 18, 2005

Metafilter: A Tradition of Heritage
posted by oncogenesis at 4:31 PM on October 18, 2005

Hmmm, I contributed some words to this wiki page a few months back. My submissions lasted a few days then disappeared, I figured the person who manages the entry decided Chester A. Arthritis wasn't good enough, but now there it is, alongside a few other suggestions of mine. Now I know how John Updike feels.
posted by herting at 4:39 PM on October 18, 2005

Uh, crap... nevermind my enrties are still there in the form I left them... they just disappeared temporarily I guess.... Stupid Fark making me think stating things as fact before researching is a perfectly cromulent thing to do.
posted by herting at 4:46 PM on October 18, 2005

The internet? They have that computers now?
posted by maledictory at 4:47 PM on October 18, 2005

Thanks for the heads-up re: killbots, ROU_Xenophobe.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:06 AM on October 19, 2005

I live to serve. It's good mid-80s dreck, maybe up there with Humongous or Basket Case. AFAIK both versions are identical.

OTOH, "The Killbot Factory" or "Another, more alarming, name would be..." are purely Simpsonian.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:25 AM on October 19, 2005

Craptacular is my personal favorite.
posted by skjønn at 12:23 PM on October 19, 2005

"Cromulent" has since appeared in the Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English."

Excellent *cradles fingers*
posted by skjønn at 12:24 PM on October 19, 2005