# Did Roahl Dahl coin any adjectives that are now part of mainstream English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085 "2016-09-05T05:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/1 "2016-09-05T05:20:57Z")
Hi Did Roahl Dahl coin any adjectives that are now part of mainstream English? I though that he may have but I can’t find any offhand. I couldn’t find any websites listing adjectives he may have coined. I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/2 "2016-09-05T05:46:58Z")
You might start [here](https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Roald-Dahl-Dictionary-Dictionaries/dp/0192736450). From what I’m reading (on Dahl’s wiki page) “Scrumdiddlyumptious” is his word. (Though I would have guessed it was from Marry Poppins if I didn’t just see it there). ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/3 "2016-09-05T06:21:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You might start [here](https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Roald-Dahl-Dictionary-Dictionaries/dp/0192736450). > From what I’m reading (on Dahl’s wiki page) “Scrumdiddlyumptious” is his word. (Though I would have guessed it was from Marry Poppins if I didn’t just see it there). “rotsome” is the only one I’ve seen that one could conceivably mistake for a mainstream word, even though it does sound odd. “Chortle” was a word coined by Lewis Carroll and that word went mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/4 "2016-09-05T06:24:20Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > “rotsome” is the only one I’ve seen that one could conceivably mistake for a mainstream word, even though it does sound odd. “Chortle” was a word coined by Lewis Carroll and that word went mainstream. “gimble” is another one from L. Carroll meaning “to grimace”. I’m just curious about Roahl Dahl’s words. I can’t think of any used in standard English. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/5 "2016-09-05T06:47:14Z")
I’ve heard people use _Oompa Loompa_ in the wild - either as an insult to someone of short stature, or in general terms to describe people working invisibly behind the scenes of a project or process. I think the lack of Dahl-coined words is actually a measure of their success as made-up words; they were written as conspicuously made-up words, and they have remained that way. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/6 "2016-09-05T10:02:27Z")
My kids used to do ‘whizzpoppers’ but I have not heard it outside the family. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/7 "2016-09-05T10:26:03Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > “gimble” is another one from L. Carroll meaning “to grimace”. [http://www.waxdog.com/jabberwocky/def.html](http://www.waxdog.com/jabberwocky/def.html) Gimble - “to make holes like a gimlet” ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/8 "2016-09-05T10:52:34Z")
Did he invent “Stig”? Thanks to Top Gear now a popular word in daily use. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/9 "2016-09-05T11:31:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’ve heard people use _Oompa Loompa_ in the wild - either as an insult to someone of short stature, or in general terms to describe people working invisibly behind the scenes of a project or process. The term has made it into [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Oompa_Loompa). Make of that what you will; it’s a crowdsourced dictionary written largely by non-professionals, but they do have editorial quality controls that are considerably more sophisticated and consistently applied than, say Urban Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/10 "2016-09-05T11:38:25Z")
I checked the _Oxford English Dictionary_ for references to Dahl. While he is occasionally quoted to illustrate the usage of certain terms, only once does he provide the earliest known quotation. This is for a specialized use of the verb “stop” in racing, meaning “to check (a horse) in order to stay out of the running”. So it’s possible that he coined this use. (If he did, it’s rather disappointing that none of his better-known coinages have made it into the OED.) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/11 "2016-09-05T11:51:11Z")
> [@Mavic\_Chen](#): > > Did he invent “Stig”? Thanks to Top Gear now a popular word in daily use. Stig is a Scandinavian man’s name. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/12 "2016-09-05T13:08:00Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [http://www.waxdog.com/jabberwocky/def.html](http://www.waxdog.com/jabberwocky/def.html) > > Gimble - “to make holes like a gimlet” Thanks Peter Morris. I was mistaken. I was looking at some East Anglia dialect and must have conflated it with L. Carroll’s use of it. The definition on this web site is “to grin or smile” > **[The Vocabulary of East-Anglia](https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=2BFJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=%22gimble%22%2Betymology&source=bl&ots=-1S2WE7_V7&sig=smNGVP9PtP8yWIe35ltHPDIjrJw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOjei6pfjOAhWMmZQKHW2pC_c4ChDoAQgZMAA#v=onepage&q=%22gimble%22%20etymology&f=false)** ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/13 "2016-09-05T13:20:08Z")
Seems to me I’ve seen vermicious a couple of times in other stories. Probably more of a reference than a widely accepted word. Apparently there’s an indie band named Vermicious Knid as well. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/14 "2016-09-05T13:22:45Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Seems to me I’ve seen vermicious a couple of times in other stories. Probably more of a reference than a widely accepted word. Dahl didn’t invent that one. It’s means “wormlike” or “pertaining to worms”, and has been around since at least Victorian times. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/15 "2016-09-05T13:43:54Z")
Regardless, it is a great word. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/16 "2016-09-05T16:22:33Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > The term has made it into [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Oompa_Loompa). Make of that what you will; it’s a crowdsourced dictionary written largely by non-professionals, but they do have editorial quality controls that are considerably more sophisticated and consistently applied than, say Urban Dictionary. STIGs = Secure Technical Implementation Guidelines. The bane of my existence, and the source of my paychecks… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/17 "2016-09-05T17:45:05Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Regardless, it is a great word. By coincidence, this week I learned this word, which I liked: [Anthelmintic - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthelmintic) My puppy had Giardia, like a million other dogs (and people) constantly do. Never knew that’s what the doctor orders. ETA: most of us have come across, when formally introduced, to Our Appendix, which is vermiform. (Wasn’t there a HS film “I Am Bob’s Appendix?”, or is that just priverbial?) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/18 "2016-09-05T18:22:06Z")
I’ve heard “gobstopper” used as a generic term for a jawbreaker, kind of like “Band-Aid” as a generic term for “adhesive bandage,” or “Kleenex” for “disposable paper handkerchief.” That probably required the intervention of the “Wonka” brand candy making a small jawbreaker called a gobstopper, though. The word has a legitimate etymology, though-- sort of “stopping you from gobbling,” by being a candy that necessarily must be eaten slowly, which is certainly what a jawbreaker is. ETA: so it’s a noun and not an adjective. Still interesting. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/19 "2016-09-05T18:27:02Z")
Now that I think about it, I did once hear a person described as “Getting Oopma Loompaed,” to mean getting eliminated from a competition in an embarrassing way-- kind of the opposite of “unceremoniously.” Some reality shows do this apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085/20 "2016-09-05T18:34:55Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Stig is a Scandinavian man’s name. I’d always assumed it was some very sideways reference to the children’s book “Stig of the Dump”, certainly if you said “Stig” in the UK before Top Gear that is what most people would think of. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roahl-dahl-coin-any-adjectives-that-are-now-part-of-mainstream-english/765085.md?page=2)