Nov 27 2007
Dictionary Not “Ginormous” Enough
Just a few of the 100 new items to be added to the “2007 copyright version of the best-selling Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition”*:
Bollywood
crunk
DVR
flex-cuff
ginormous
gray literature
hardscape
IED
microgreen
perfect storm
RPG
smackdown
snowboardcross
speed dating
sudoku
telenovela
viewshed
Before looking up any of these, I wondered, “What the hell is ‘gray literature?’ Do Canadians call it ‘grey literature?’”
I know what several of these mean, but “viewshed” had me scratching my huge head. I can understand why including some of these makes sense. With the increasing number of foreign-born people coming to the U.S. for jobs or simply freedom from persecution, a dictionary with such terms might become a much more practical tool. From another angle, however, it does seem to encourage and legitimize the use of terms that make people sound just plain stupid.
Is “enormous” not enough? Would “giant” not do? Nope, gotta have “ginormous,” because it expresses precisely the size of that particular thing, feeling, or idea. Why not try “gargantuan?” It’s already a word and it has one more syllable. I put “ginormous” in the same category as “splendiferous.” Or, how about “magnificool?”
Don’t get me wrong. I like to make up new words. Sometimes it’s fun. But, “smackdown” needs to be put in print as an official word? Merriam-Webster has its reasons.
When would you add a word?
*Source: m-w.com list of new words
This is one of the reasons I love English so much. It’s this sense of play and creativity that is built into the very base of our language that makes it so amazingly flexible. Even the French, who “hate” all things American, use many of our new word creations to talk about new items and concepts because English is uniquely suited to the task. Is ginormous really needed in the lexicon…probably not. We also don’t really need another word that means “cool.” Then again…even “cool” didn’t mean cool until relatively recently. My point is that while smackdown may feel a bit strange in the dictionary, I love the fact that it’s there.
One of the sources I just looked up did call it “grey” literature as an alternate spelling.
The frequency with which neologisms find their way into the accepted English lexicon sort of reveals what a bastardised menagerie of cobbled-together languages this one really is. English is the illegitamate love child of a millennia-long philological 0rgy involving just about every other major language out there. If English were a human, it would be a product of the 1960s drug-induced haze of uninhibited expression.
Dude!
Si - That’s exactly the awesomeness I was talking about ;)
I enjoy using the word ginormous but I think I liked to use it because it wasn’t really a word. * insert popping bubble noise here*. I will just have to keep using my other non words to make up for the disimpressedness of having one less non word in my vocabulary. g’day.
“disimpressedness” should make it into the next edition. Totally.
Aw, quit kissing your wife’s ass, Simon - I’m very disimpressed with your kissassedness. Go give her a massage or something and leave the rest of us out of it!
(Just teasing, of course - I just have issues b/c I want a damn massage and my hubby is out of town!)
yeah, what Shannon said. Very funny lady…
I use the word ‘ginormous’ all the time. When I heard about this I had to gloat to my husband, he always teased me about saying it. But now it’s a legit word…at least according to the dictionary. :)
I only use the word ginormous in reference to certain body parts. ;)
“Ginormous” is a stupid-sounding, ridiculous word and absolutely does not deserve the honor of being a real word. I can’t even say it out loud. There are a katrillion more deserving, cool words that I would choose over this. I kind of agree with Alvis. It might be appropriate to describe a large female mammal’s genitalia. And only then.