Culturally significant words and phrases from The Simpsons

The animated television series The Simpsons has used and coined many words and phrases for humorous effect, some of which have entered popular use. Mark Liberman, director of the Linguistic Data Consortium, commented that "The Simpsons has apparently taken over from Shakespeare and the Bible as our culture's greatest source of idioms, catchphrases and sundry other textual allusions." The most famous example is Homer Simpson’s signature annoyed grunt, "D'oh!", which in 2001 was listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, and also appears in other dictionaries.

The following phrases have found their way into popular use, to varying degrees. The route often passes through the considerable fan-base where use of these words carries the prestige of pop-culture literacy among those who catch the references, just as among other cultural groups a clever parallel to a well-known phrase from the literary or rhetorical canon would be acknowledged.

The following is presented as a glossary of words or phrases invented or popularized by the show which one or more characters use in regular speech, as though intended as real terms. This does not include names of invented characters, locations, or products.

Cheese-eating surrender monkeys

File:Nypost surrender monkeys.jpg

N.Y. Post cover from Dec. 7, 2006

Main article: Cheese-eating surrender monkeys

See also: Francophobia; Surrender Dorothy

In the sixth-season episode "’Round Springfield," Groundskeeper Willie, who was teaching French, used the phrase "Bonjourrr, ya cheese-eating surrender monkeys," referring to the French.

The phrase "Surrender monkeys" was used on December 7, 2006 when the New York Post published a banner headline calling James Baker and Lee Hamilton "surrender monkeys" after the release of their Iraq Study Group report.

Can’t sleep, clown(s) will eat me

See also: Coulrophobia

File:Bedclown.jpg

Bart in the clown bed

"Can’t sleep, clown(s) will eat me" is a stock phrase that has become popular as a joke-explanation for insomnia.

The phrase first appears in The Simpsons episode "Lisa’s First Word." During the episode, there is a flashback in which Homer and Bart are watching the Krusty the Klown show. During the show, Homer notices that Bart likes clowns and decides to build a new bed for him, shaped like a clown, rather than buying him a new bed. However, due to Homer’s questionable craftsmanship skills, the clown bed has a highly menacing appearance, causing Bart to imagine the clown behaving terrifyingly. Instead of "laughing himself to sleep" as Homer intended, Bart lies awake in a fetal position, and the next morning is repeatedly uttering the phrase "Can’t sleep, clown’ll eat me." The reference originated from a childhood experience of one of the writers.

Cromulent and embiggens

Cromulent means valid, acceptable, or possibly commonplace, coined by David Cohen for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast"; embiggen, coined by Dan Greaney, means "to make bigger," or, used symbolically, means "to empower".

When schoolteacher Edna Krabappel hears the Springfield town motto "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man," she comments she'd never heard the word "embiggens" before moving to Springfield. Miss Hoover, another teacher, replies, "I don’t know why; it’s a perfectly cromulent word." Later in the episode, while talking about Homer’s audition for the role of town crier, Principal Skinner states "He's embiggened that role with his cromulent performance."

The DVD commentary for "Lisa the Iconoclast" makes a point of reinforcing that "embiggens" and "cromulent" were completely made up by the writers and have since taken on a life of their own via the Internet and other media.

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

In 2006, a string theory paper by Shamit Kachru and three colleagues used "embiggen" to describe the Myers effect on D-branes: "...we could argue that there is a competing effect which can overcome the desire of the anti-D3s to embiggen, namely their attraction towards the wrapped D5s." Upon reviewing the paper, another scientist commented that its references were "perfectly cromulent".

The word has also been used by Nerdcore Hip-Hop artist MC Frontalot in his song "Nerdcore Rising" on the album of the same name. The line is, "I know that 'possibleness' is not a cromulent word."

In the 2005 Xbox game Jade Empire, the player meets a character who uses made-up and mispronounced words. When the player confronts the man with this, the man claims that the words he uses are perfectly "cromulent" and that the player would do well to "embiggen" their vocabulary before talking to him.

The Trading Card Game (TCG) 'The Spoils' (Tenacious Games) has a card titled "Ambiguity Embiggener". Its flavour text is "Embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word."

When using the slideshow feature at Flickr, a photo sharing site, one of the options is to "embiggen small photos to fit screen."

D’oh!

Main article: D'oh!

An exclamation of annoyance often uttered by Homer.

In scripts and episode titles, D’oh is often referred to as "(annoyed grunt)." When actor Dan Castellaneta first encountered the word, it was left up to him to create the verbal equivalent.

It may be argued that "d’oh" is not a Simpsons neologism, as Castellaneta based the phrase on Jimmy Finlayson’s similar utterance in many Laurel & Hardy films; however, Finlayson did not exclaim the term as Castellaneta does, but used it as more of a muttered whine.

Apart from Homer, there are other people who occasionally say "d’oh," such as Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Abraham Simpson, Mona Simpson, Marge Simpson, Homer’s half brother Herb Powell, and the show's Gerald Ford character (as opposed to the former President himself).

"D'oh!" has occasionally been used on other TV shows. In the Family Guy episode "Mother Tucker", Stewie Griffin utters the phrase while parodying a Simpsons Butterfinger commercial. The expression was also used in the sixth unaired episode of Clerks: The Animated Series by Leonardo Leonardo after a fan claimed the show was too much like The Simpsons. And it is used several times by Richard Dean Anderson in his role as Jack O'Neill on the series Stargate SG-1. In the Arrested Development episode "Sword of Destiny", Dan Castellaneta parodied himself by having his Dr. Stein character say "D'oh" in as flat and un-Homer-like a manner as possible.

The term was famously canonized in the Oxford English Dictionary. As Homer's major catchphrase, many Simpsons fans adopted the expression and use it like Homer does.

Kwyjibo

Kwyjibo (IPA: [ˈkwɪdʒiˌbəʊ]) is a word made up by Bart Simpson during a game of Scrabble with his family. In the first regularly-scheduled episode of the series, "Bart the Genius", Bart puts "kwyjibo" on the board, scoring 116 points (22 points plus Triple Word Score plus 50 points for using all seven of his letters.) When Homer demands Bart tell him what a kwyjibo is, Bart replies, "A big, dumb, balding North American ape… with no chin." Marge also adds "...and a short temper." At this point, Homer chases Bart away, causing Homer to exclaim, "I'll show you a big, dumb, balding ape!" Bart responds, "Uh-oh! Kwyjibo on the loose!"

"Kwyjibo" was used as one of the aliases of the creator of the Melissa worm, and is the name of a yo-yo string trick. "Kweejibo" is a handmade clothing company in San Francisco.

At one point, Yahoo!’s online version of Scrabble was advertised on the Yahoo! home page with a visual representation of letter tiles spelling out Q-U-Y-J-I-B-O. On the episode "Bart the Genius," it's spelled K-W-Y-J-I-B-O.

In the Simpsons edition of Scrabble, certain words related to the Simpsons are allowed, Kwyjibo being one of them. There is also a card which allows the player to make up a word as long as they can define it.

Meh

The word "meh" has been used in several episodes of The Simpsons, including "Hungry Hungry Homer":

Homer: Kids, how would you... like to go to... Blockoland?

Bart and Lisa: Meh.

Homer: But the TV gave me the impression that…

Bart: We said "meh."

Lisa: M-E-H: Meh.

The word has come to be used as an interjection indicating apathy or lack of enthusiasm, or as an adjective meaning mediocre or uninspiring. It was popularized by The Simpsons, but its origin is unknown. A Yiddish derivation has been suggested but not confirmed. It is also a term commonly used on internet chat and forum sites.

Okily-Dokily

Ned Flanders’s version of the phrase "Okey dokey," itself a variant on "Okay". Flanders often uses embellished or cutesy versions of common conversational phrases, such as "Hi diddly ho" in place of "Hello."

In the first season episode "M.A.D." of Veronica Mars, Veronica responds to "Watch what you’re doing" with "Okily-Dokily."

Our new … Overlords

In "Deep Space Homer" (1994) news announcer Kent Brockman sees a magnified ant on a video feed from the Space Shuttle, and concludes that the Earth would soon be invaded by giant space ants. He interrupts his news story to make a statement:

One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

This statement has seeped into popular culture to describe a number of events. Variants of Brockman’s utterance are used to express mock submission, usually for the purpose of humor. It has been used in media, such as New Scientist magazine.

See also Evil Overlord

Yoink!

After appearing many times on The Simpsons, "Yoink!" has gained widespread usage as a verbal exclamation made when removing or stealing an object from its owner or rightful place, or when performing a wedgie. Yoink was also the name of a short-lived file-sharing program on Windows in the post-napster days. First used by Homer in "Duffless" when he snatches the wad of money he saved by not drinking for a month from Marge. It was coined by Simpsons writer George Meyer.

"Yoink!" was also used extensively in the episode "Mom and Pop Art" by guest voice Jasper Johns, an American conceptual artist and painter who appropriates common symbols in his artwork. In the Simpsons episode he appears suddenly and "yoinks" things from people, then disappears.

References

• Bahn, Christopher (2006-04-26). "Beyond "D'oh!": Simpsons Quotes For Everyday Use". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Homerisms: Figures of Speech in The Simpsons
• The Simpsons Archive: Episode Capsules
• The Simpsons Quotes: Collection of Simpsons Quotes
• Cromulent Shakespeare Company, a theater company in Minnesota employing "Simpsons" neologisms
• Language Log article discussing the "welcome our new overlords" meme