An outrageously egotistical friend of mine claims to have invented the word “dingus”, but this seems to be a pretty widespread word (after all, it appeared on the cartoon “Time Squad”) and teenage males usually don’t make significant contributions to the English vocabulary. Does anyone know the origins of this word?
Dillon
There is a “Dingus Day” celebrated in Indiana the day after Easter Sunday. I think it has been celebrated for quite some day, and might have some Irish ethnic roots.
I believe Humphrey Bogart referred to the Maltese Falcon as a dingus once in the movie. How old is your friend? Old enough so that “dingus” could have been a colloquialism 60 years ago?
How old is your friend? 
From the Merriam-Webster on-line:
Main Entry: din·gus
Pronunciation: 'di[ng]-(g)&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Dutch or German; Dutch dinges, probably from German Dings, from genitive of Ding thing, from Old High German – more at THING
Date: 1876
: DOODAD 2
Main Entry: din·gus
Pronunciation: 'di[ng]-(g)&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Dutch or German; Dutch dinges, probably from German Dings, from genitive of Ding thing, from Old High German – more at THING
Date: 1876
I guess your friend must be pretty old…
Dammit tomndebb!
And that’s wasn’t just a simul-cut-n-paste. They both went in and did all the underlines and italics. A for effort.
Yeah, the OP has already been exploded but let me just throw in one of my favorite movie titles: Dirty Dingus Magee (1970).
This was a very cool thread, not only was ignorance dispelled, apparently a windbag was punctured and we had one of the most eductional simul-posts in recent memory.
Oh…by the way, Dvstyke, welcome to SDMB.
I sometimes feel like the guy at the end of the parade who sweeps up after the elephants.
Indeed, 1876 is the original cite, from a Nevada newspaper. Spelled “dingis.” Not clear totally from the sentence in Mathews just what it referred to. While Lighter accepts it as referring to a thing as a “whatchamacallit” , the fact is that Lighter provides a cite from 1888 in a “dirty” joke book which clearly shows it meant “penis” by 1888.
Unless your friend is Dutch, and about 150 years old, it’s not likely.
This thread reminds me of a limerick I once wrote…
There once was a man named Charles Mingus,
Whose girlfriend was sucking his dingus.
He played “Eat That Chicken”
While gettin’ a lickin’,
And also performed cunnilingus.
The Dutch word dinges was the first thing that popped to mind when I read the OP. It means something along the lines of “thingamajig”, or “whatchamacallit”. 
Funny, I never knew that word made it into American English, albeit obscurely.
I’ve read the etymologies, but seriously…I thought “dingus” was from the Roman Latin, and was derived from “tool (meant in a sexual context)”. I swear I’ve read that (likely) etymology before - does that ring a bell with anyone? 
Wouldn’t that be dingvs?
Can’t find dingus in any online Latin resources… Lewis & Short apparently have dingua as a variant of lingua (“tongue” - as if anyone didn’t know), but I can’t find a source text for that, and that’s the closest I’m getting.
I think someone’s pulling Anthracite’s leg - “dingus”, to me, has “Germanic root” written all over it.
Besides Maltese Falcon, an additional cinematic reference is Dirty Dingus McGee (1970), about an ass-breaker from Yerkey’s Hole.
Your friend did not invent the word. Guys automatically know what the evolutionarilly-shortened-over-the-years form of the word is in conversation (a ding), from this word.
Dingus is somethign that has also been on the Simpsons, which is perhaps where your friend heard it? Too many ppl watch that show, myself included.
From episode AABF06, “Viva Ned Flanders”
Also, episode AABF21, “dingus” was censored during its first network airing for fear that it would be too offensive, but the closed captioning didnt miss it:
I know that nelson also said it, but i cant find a quote of episode number.
Believe it or not, my family name is Dingus, and has been a family name going back at least 3 generations. I am told by my grandfather that my great grandfather made it up coming here (U.S.) from Ireland for reasons that I can only imagine.
Actually, “Dyngus Day” was Polish in the South Bend area. A day to drink beer and consume kielbasa. A lot of union contracts had it as a paid holiday. (It’s been over twenty years, but I’m sure it was spelt with a ‘Y’.)