# Did my friend really invent the word "dingus"? Where did it come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250 "2002-07-03T20:46:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dvstyke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dvstyke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dvstyke)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/1 "2002-07-03T20:46:40Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/2 "2002-07-03T20:51:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/3 "2002-07-03T20:53:48Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/4 "2002-07-03T20:55:34Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/5 "2002-07-03T20:57:35Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/6 "2002-07-03T20:58:39Z")
Dammit **tomndebb**! ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/7 "2002-07-03T21:23:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/8 "2002-07-03T21:28:07Z")
Yeah, the OP has already been exploded but let me just throw in one of my favorite movie titles: [_Dirty Dingus Magee_ (1970)](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0065642). ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/9 "2002-07-03T22:28:36Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/10 "2002-07-03T22:46:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2002, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/11 "2002-07-04T07:39:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2002, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/12 "2002-07-04T10:32:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/13 "2002-07-04T12:45:18Z")
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? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/14 "2002-07-04T12:51:19Z")
Wouldn’t that be _dingvs_? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/15 "2002-07-04T13:26:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/16 "2002-07-04T20:42:29Z")
Besides _Maltese Falcon_, an additional cinematic reference is [Dirty Dingus McGee](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0065642) (1970), about an ass-breaker from Yerkey’s Hole. ---
**Author:** ![dopetalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dopetalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dopetalker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/17 "2002-07-05T06:39:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![doktersteve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@doktersteve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doktersteve)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/18 "2002-07-05T06:46:03Z")
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” > [@](#): > > Homer: Welly, welly, welly. Mister Clean wants to hang with dirty Dingus McGee. 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: > [@](#): > > “Hey, you [dingus], you cut me off! Ah, yeah, [screw] you!” … “[Stupid] Ambulance! You think you’re so big with your [damn] [\] siren and your letters on backwards!” I know that nelson also said it, but i cant find a quote of episode number. ---
**Author:** ![gus28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6de8d8/32.png) [@gus28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gus28)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/19 "2002-07-12T05:56:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![raoulortega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@raoulortega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raoulortega)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250/20 "2002-07-12T06:16:02Z")
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’.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-my-friend-really-invent-the-word-dingus-where-did-it-come-from/117250.md?page=2)