What the hell does Embiggen mean...? - General Discussion

#1 Posted by Red12b (8816 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

So, i mean...what?

#2 Edited by HandsomeDead (11863 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

Something to do with making your dick bigger, I think.

EDIT: I can't believe I just made a dick joke. Jesus Christ. I am better than this.

#3 Posted by Kear (86 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

#4 Edited by Gamer_152 (13243 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

You know embiggen, as in embiggen America or embiggen your soul. The word's perfectly cromulent.

Moderator

#5 Posted by Red12b (8816 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@HandsomeDead said:

Something to do with making your dick bigger, I think. EDIT: I can't believe I just made a dick joke. Jesus Christ. I am better than this.

...no...you're not

haha, but seriously...any Idea?

#6 Posted by MariachiMacabre (5344 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

It doesn't mean anything. It just is...man. Ya dig...brah?

It means "enlarge" but in internet english.

#7 Edited by animathias (1031 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Kear said:

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

Indeed.

Edit: I just realized you're not a member and possibly asking what the embiggen button on the site does? It makes the video player larger, much like YouTube. It's quite nice.

#8 Posted by ShockD (2186 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

Something to do with Andre The Giant I suppose.

#9 Posted by HandsomeDead (11863 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Red12b said:

@HandsomeDead said:
Something to do with making your dick bigger, I think. EDIT: I can't believe I just made a dick joke. Jesus Christ. I am better than this.
...no...you're not haha, but seriously...any Idea?

It just makes the video bigger without having to go full screen with it.

#10 Posted by Ragdrazi (2283 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

It means you're making me feel old.

#11 Posted by TheUnsavedHero (1159 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

Larger without fullscreen. Andre would be proud. Love the sprite.

#12 Posted by Red12b (8816 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Ragdrazi said:

It means you're making me feel old.

Howso? im in my middle 20's

#13 Posted by Ragdrazi (2283 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

Oh god. No one here knows do they.

Big ups to the cromulent few here.

#14 Posted by JoeyRavn (4395 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Ragdrazi: The lack of Simpsons trivia knowledge is alarming, yes. Especially when people attribute things like "embiggen" to "Internet English"...

#15 Posted by pornstorestiffi (4851 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

The episode features two neologisms:embiggen and cromulent which were intended to sound like real words but play on the fact that they are completely fabricated.Embiggen, coined by Dan Greaney, has seen use in several scientific publications, while cromulent, coined by David X. Cohen, appeared in the Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English.

#16 Posted by WinterSnowblind (7350 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Ragdrazi said:

Oh god. No one here knows do they. Big ups to the cromulent few here.

I'm pretty sure everyone's trolling you. It's a very well known thing/joke to the point where embiggen and cromulant have actually become acceptable words.. At least in some places.

#17 Posted by rmanthorp (3348 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

WAH WAH WAH WAAAHHH!

#18 Posted by Ragdrazi (2283 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Ragdrazi said:
Oh god. No one here knows do they. Big ups to the cromulent few here.
I'm pretty sure everyone's trolling you.

How's that again?

#19 Posted by Starfishhunter9 (323 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Kear said:

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

#20 Posted by Yanngc33 (4472 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

to make something bigger I think

#21 Posted by JoeyRavn (4395 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@WinterSnowblind: I'm sure the acceptance of those words, chiefly "embiggen", has gotten to the point in which the parodic origin has been lost, and people actually believe that they are real words. Or cromulent, if you wish. I don't think all of them are trolling. Some seem to not be aware of the origin of these words.

#22 Posted by mnzy (2826 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

That episode is from 1996. I guess that was too early for some people.

#23 Edited by Catarrhal (775 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

In this case, it's not actually intended to be a reference. It was suggested by someone who called in to Dave Snider's radio show.

#24 Posted by Ragdrazi (2283 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@JoeyRavn: Wait, people actually think Embiggen and Cromulent are real words now?

It's like... it's like this zeitgeist is committed to satirizing it's own self savagely.

#25 Posted by Zero_ (1610 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Ragdrazi: Wait, they might not be real words but they are perfectly cromulent.

#26 Posted by Ragdrazi (2283 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Zero_: True.

#27 Posted by JoeyRavn (4395 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Zero_ said:

@Ragdrazi: Wait, they might not be real words but they are perfectly cromulent.

And so the cycle closes itself.

#28 Posted by coakroach (2383 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Kear said:

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

#29 Edited by AlisterCat (5019 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Catarrhal said:

In this case, it's not actually intended to be a reference. It was suggested by someone who called in to Dave Snider's radio show.

This. The guy wanted a bigger video player and said he wanted an embiggen button, and Dave and Alexis though it was funny.

The caller also had one of the best voices in the world if I recall.

#30 Posted by BraveToaster (12588 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Embiggen

#31 Posted by Fattony12000 (4374 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

Sibilant.

#32 Posted by ZagZagovich (689 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

Oh wow. It was actually from the Simpsons? I completely forgot that it actually was a show at one point. It's crazy how recent years killed any good memories I had about it.

#33 Posted by Briggs713 (168 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Kear: lol was ready to come in an write this.

#34 Posted by Portis (1254 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@ZagZagovich said:

Oh wow. It was actually from the Simpsons? I completely forgot that it actually was a show at one point. It's crazy how recent years killed any good memories I had about it.

Do what I did -- start at the season 1 DVD, go up from there and stop wherever you thought the show became bad, and ignore the new episodes. I personally have the first 13 seasons on DVD (+1 Blu-ray) and those are some of the best purchases I've ever made.

The last time I watched a new episode of the show, that was in 2003. I've avoided anything past season 13 like the plague.

#35 Posted by zudthespud (3204 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

I hope this embiggens your knowledge.

#36 Posted by SolongWrex (115 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@mnzy: I still had to rely on subtitles back then. When I got old enough to understand the English, the show had already gone to shit.

#37 Posted by HitmanAgent47 (8577 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

who cares

#38 Edited by KarmaPoliceman (134 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@HitmanAgent47: Were your previous 8865 posts as insightful as this?

#39 Edited by HitmanAgent47 (8577 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@KarmaPoliceman: it's not essential knowledge.

It probally means to make bigger or something like that.

#40 Posted by MysteriousBob (6201 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@HitmanAgent47 said:

who cares

Gotta raise that post count, eh buddy? Shouldn't you be off ranting about illumanti mystics and how 9/11 was an inside job or some shit?

Its sad how few people recognise a great Simpsons moment. In fact I'm going to watch Lisa the Iconoclast again thanks to this thread.

#41 Posted by alternate (2376 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

I looked these up and has a laughing fit when I found these words are called "nonce" words meaning "of the now". Hilarity based on "nonce" being UK slang for a sex offender.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Ragdrazi said:
Oh god. No one here knows do they. Big ups to the cromulent few here.
I'm pretty sure everyone's trolling you. It's a very well known thing/joke to the point where embiggen and cromulant have actually become acceptable words.. At least in some places.

To be fair that is how all new works tend to start - a small group accepts them and eventually some of them enter the wider public consciousness. The verb "to tweet" being a notable recent example along with a number of other social network terms.

#42 Posted by ZagZagovich (689 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

@Portis:
Yeah. I probably should do that. It would be kind of hard to pin point a season since in Russia they were showing whatever they had in random order but thanks for the suggestion, I was running low on tv shows to watch.

Fun Russian fact: There was a period when to avoid losing referential humor in translations a lot of jokes were rewritten to include Russian celebrities like Alla Pugachiova or even weirder some references to older (yet popular even here) movies were rewritten to be about newer movies. Like a star wars joke was changed to be about the matrix. I stopped watching after this point.

#43 Posted by AlexW00d (5428 posts) - 1 year, 10 months ago

I find it funny how it's inclusion on here isn't primarily due to the Simpsons, but because of someone saying it as if it was a real word on one of Dave's Radio shows. But hey, if it makes you feel better pretending you're the knowledge king, more power to you, or something.