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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."
[1] The most famous example is
Homer Simpson’s signature annoyed grunt, "
D'oh!", which in
2001 was listed in the ''
Oxford English Dictionary'',
[2] 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, , or
products.
__TOC__
''Big wheel down at the cracker factory''
In the
sixth-season episode "
Homie the Clown," Milhouse uses the phrase to refer to
his father's job.
[3]
The phrase also inspired the book ''Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory'' by Mickey Hess.
[4].
''Cheese-eating surrender monkeys''
''N.Y. Post'' cover from Dec. 7, 2006
''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''
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."
[5] 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.
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.
"Cromulent" has since appeared in the
Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of
English.
[6]
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 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."
[7] Upon reviewing the paper, another scientist commented that its references were "perfectly cromulent".
[8]
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."
''D’oh!''
Main articles: D'oh!
An exclamation of annoyance often uttered by
Homer.
In scripts and episode titles, 'D’oh' is often referred to as "'(annoyed grunt)'."
[9] 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 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 '' 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''' () 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!" Then Bart says "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.
''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.''
[10]
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
[11].
''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.
[12] First used by Homer in "
Duffless" when he snatches the wad of of money he saved by not drinking for a month from Marge.
[13] Coined by ''Simpsons'' writer
George Meyer.
[14]
"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
★
Beyond "D'oh!": Simpsons Quotes For Everyday Use Bahn, Christopher
Notes
1.
2. It's in the dictionary, d'oh!
3. Homer the Clown at SNPP
4. ''Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory'' by Mickey Hess
5. The Simpsons: "Lisa's First Word" (Episode 10, Season 4). Airdate: December 3 1992
6. lookup via reference.com
7. arXiv:hep-th/0610212v2 Riccardo Argurio, Matteo Bertolini, Sebastian Franco, Shamit Kachru, "Gauge/gravity duality and meta-stable dynamical supersymmetry breaking", JHEP 0701 (2007) 083
8. [1] "How a fake word from The Simpsons ended up in a perfectly cromulent string theory paper", JR Minkel, SciAm Observations, ScientificAmerican.com
9. ''The Simpsons: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family''. New York: HarperCollins Publishers; 1997.
10. The Simpsons Archive. 1F13 "Deep Space Homer" episode guide - accessed January 16, 2007
11. The British government welcomes our new insect overlords - New Scientist magazine
12. [2]
13. The Yoink List
14. Interview with George Mayer from snpp.com
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
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