It’s a perfectly cromulent word.
Everyone’s second favourite day of the year has arrived, it’s the day that Merriam-Webster announce some new words for their dictionary.
850 big ones are being added in this time around, which include cryptocurrency, chiweenie (half chihuahua half weiner dog, obviously), kombucha and glamping.
But forget about those words, nobody really cares aside from chiweenies who are glad to finally have a name to identify themselves with. What we really need to acknowledge is the fact that a word from The Simpsons has been officially recognised as a proper piece of language. But what’s the word? Tomacco? Diddly? D’oh? No.
It’s embiggen.
To make something bigger. To EMBIGGEN.
You might remember The Simpsons’ quote ‘A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man’, which is a turn of phrase that many of us have chosen to live our lives by. Jebediah Springfield delivered the line in an iconic piece of cinematic history.
Upon first reaction, I’m into it. I could see myself using ’embiggen’ from time to time. Certainly if I was still at Uni, I’d throw it into every essay to convince the lecturer that I knew a fancier way of saying ‘make bigger’, but those days are behind me. My sights have embiggened since then.
Truthfully, I can’t be alone in instinctively drawing a parallel between ’embiggen’ and Rob Delaney’s glorious word ‘enchubben’ that he often tweets.
your mom’s haireolas make my pænus enchubben
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) September 6, 2013
The most delightful #MeatWind just blew out of a restaurant's door & into my nostrils, causing me to gently – ever so gently – enchubben.
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) October 1, 2014
Although it has a slightly more crude meaning, it’s a good word and I’m prepared to launch a campaign to get ‘enchubben’ into Merriam-Webster’s next batch of dictionary additions. Let’s embiggen our vocabulary with enchubben.
Please join me in raising awareness of #Enchubben so that together, we can be the change we wish to enchubben in this embiggened world.
Images via Fox
