by geForce » Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:56 pm
Cromulent and embiggens
When schoolteacher Edna Krabappel hears the Springfield town motto, "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man," she comments that she never heard the word "embiggens" until she moved 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."
Cromulent means "valid," "acceptable," or possibly "commonplace." Embiggen , coined by Dan Greaney, is a verb that means "to make bigger" or, used symbolically, "to empower." The DVD commentary for "Lisa the Iconoclast" makes a point of reinforcing that "embiggens" and "cromulent" were 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.
Cromulent is in the dictionary now... we can use Simpsons language in everyday conversations now!! Finally! ...... oh wait, we already do.