ginormous

[Michael Israel]

On 7/11/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: ginormous
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:03 AM -0700 7/11/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >OED 1989 has "ginormous" back to 1948, with early exx. referring to WWII.
> >
> >   I first heard it about 35 years ago.
> >
> >   JL
>
> But Mr. Fiske says it's new and it's silly and it's ill-defined
> (apparently 'very large' is an ill definition), so the OED should
> probably delete the entry.
>
> LH
>
> P.S.  Odd that an ill-defined word should have a great many synonyms,
> but there you have it.


Apparently there is a great deal of ill meaning out there.

-mi

>
> >
> >Robert Hartwell Fiske <Vocabula at AOL.COM> wrote:
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> >-----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society
> >Poster: Robert Hartwell Fiske
> >Subject: ginormous
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Merriam-Webster's has added nearly one hundred new words to the 2006
> update
> >of the eleventh edition of its Collegiate Dictionary. Among them is the
> word
> >ginormous, a synonym of the equally loathsome, equally silly humongous.
> >Combining "gigantic" and "enormous," ginormous is a word for which we
> >already have a great many synonyms. It's easy to create synonyms of
> readily
> >understandable concepts like largeness.
> >Better than new, ill-defined words for simple concepts like largeness
> would
> >be new words for less easily understood or less often encountered
> concepts
> >like bravery or justice or truth. Having more synonyms of words such as
> these
> >may, over time, affect people's behavior and increase the occurrence of
> >bravery, the spread of justice, or the value of truth.
> >Ginormous is a silly slang term that does nothing to improve our
> >understanding of ourselves or our world. What's more, some people,
> >simple though the
> >concept of large should be, apparently have trouble understanding the
> word:
> >* Those looking through the new edition of Merriam-Webster's dictionary
> will
> >have a ginormous list of new words to learn.
> >* It was a ginormous year for the wordsmiths at Merriam-Webster.
> >* She gave her mom, Kathy, a ginormous hug before the hotel entrepreneurs
> >sped off to their Bel-Air mansion for some quality time together.
> >* But I have one ginormous point to add.
> >
> >Ask Fiske
> >_www.askfiske.com_ (http://www.askfiske.com)
> >
> >
> >
> >Robert Hartwell Fiske
> >Editor and Publisher
> >The Vocabula Review
> >_www.vocabula.com_ (http://www.vocabula.com/)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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