# Origin of slang "redonk" (short for "redonkulous") meaning "ridiculous" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324 "2007-03-02T18:14:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/1 "2007-03-02T18:14:34Z")
The title is pretty much the question. I’ve heard this term orally for maybe 2 years. I saw it for the first time in print on another message board about a month ago. Can’t say “redonk” is ubiquitous just yet … but I’m wondering whether it’s part of some very recent pop culture that I may have missed. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/2 "2007-03-02T18:47:47Z")
I think it’s just people playing around with common words to make them sound funny. I also hear “recockulous” and “ridicurous”. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/3 "2007-03-02T18:56:39Z")
Don’t be dickless, Lucy! ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/4 "2007-03-02T19:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] I think it’s just people playing around with common words to make them sound funny. [/QUOTE] True, true. I still wonder if “redonk”/“redonkulous” has appeared in a recent movie, TV show, song, or something like that. Heck, these days, a video game or well-read blog can probably popularize slang. I’ve been finding over the past 5 years or so that a lot of what looks like “playing with words” actually had been popularized in some form of media. For instance – People. Writing. Sentences. Like. This. – actually came from the Comic Book Guy on _The Simpsons_ (I don’t watch much … I’ll assume that CBG Talks. In. Pauses.). ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/5 "2007-03-02T19:12:36Z")
Perhaps it’s origin is tied in to the phrase “badonkadonk” or “It’s on like Donkey Kong” ? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/6 "2007-03-02T19:20:21Z")
All I can contribute is that it first appears on Usenet in 1999. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/7 "2007-03-02T21:39:33Z")
David Spade may have revived its popularity by his repeated use of it on his Show Biz Show. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/8 "2007-03-02T21:53:57Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] I think it’s just people playing around with common words to make them sound funny. I also hear “recockulous” and “ridicurous”. [/QUOTE] [Seinfeld]Wait a minute…did you … say … ridicurous?[/js] ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/9 "2007-03-02T21:58:02Z")
It’s also all over [www.cuteoverload.com](http://www.cuteoverload.com), along with some of my other favorite non-words like 'snorgle", “muzzlepuff” and “pawsitude”. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/10 "2007-03-02T21:59:10Z")
That annoying little gnome creature from whatever online service uses it. I haven’t heard it otherwise. I hate him. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/11 "2007-03-02T22:03:44Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] Perhaps it’s origin is tied in to the phrase “badonkadonk” … [/QUOTE] See, there’s another example right there of the same thing. My hip, young sister-in-law uses this word (or is it “bading-adang-dong?”) to refer to country music, NASCAR, small towns, and rurality in general. I thought “badonkadonk”/“bading-adang-dong” was a just a play on the sound of a banjo or something, until I heard that it came from a recent hit country song. Of course, the song might have come after the term … probably did, as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/12 "2007-03-02T22:45:34Z")
Playing around with “ridiculous” is not new. Albert Alligator, in the long-defunct comic strip _Pogo_, complained that something was “ree-dickle-wockle.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/13 "2007-03-03T01:05:03Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Albert Alligator, in the long-defunct comic strip Pogo, complained that something was “ree-dickle-wockle.” But _Pogo_ used that kind of bizarre artificial elaboration for all kinds of words in the dialect of its Okefenokee swamp-critter characters, not just “ridiculous” in particular. Similar phrases I can think of just off the top of my head include “a big political assassifrassination”, “automobobble”, and “dangerest”. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/14 "2007-03-03T01:14:06Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] See, there’s another example right there of the same thing. My hip, young sister-in-law uses this word (or is it “bading-adang-dong?”) to refer to country music, NASCAR, small towns, and rurality in general. I thought “badonkadonk”/“bading-adang-dong” was a just a play on the sound of a banjo or something, until I heard that it came from a recent hit country song. Of course, the song might have come after the term … probably did, as a matter of fact. [/QUOTE] Actually “[URL=[Badunkadunk - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badonkadonk)]badonkadonk” is something completely different. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/15 "2007-03-03T16:37:00Z")
[QUOTE=foolsguinea] Actually “[badonkadonk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badonkadonk)” is something completely different. [/QUOTE] 😃 I’m just too old to keep up, I tell ya! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![jconny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jconny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jconny)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/16 "2010-03-23T18:09:16Z")
The first time I heard it was on the sit-com “How I met your mother”, they said it in at the start of the second session ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/17 "2010-03-24T12:19:25Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s also all over [www.cuteoverload.com](http://www.cuteoverload.com), along with some of my other favorite non-words like 'snorgle", “muzzlepuff” and “pawsitude”. Yeah! Thats where I heard this for the first time. muzzlepousche…hehe ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/18 "2010-03-24T13:16:09Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Actually “[badonkadonk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badonkadonk)” is something completely different. Not so completely different - the country song was “Honkytonk Badonkadonk” which may have been referring to a girl’s nice backside while she danced to Honkytonk, but the apparent hipster use of the term comes from the association with that song and making it mean honkytonk. And slang means as slang is used. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/19 "2010-03-24T13:22:34Z")
I assumed it was because dong is a slang term for dick, like cock is. So similar to how re **cock** ulous is used because cock is slang for dick, re **don** culous is used as well. The ‘g’ gets dropped off, but it’s still there in spirit. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/20 "2010-03-24T13:45:32Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I’ve been finding over the past 5 years or so that a lot of what looks like “playing with words” actually had been popularized in some form of media. For instance – People. Writing. Sentences. Like. This. – actually came from the Comic Book Guy on _The Simpsons_ (I don’t watch much … I’ll assume that CBG Talks. In. Pauses.). Comic Book Guy got it from comics (surprise!). Imagine the hero struggling so hard that they can only get out one word at a time. Must… fight… off… raygun… effects!! Where… is… Robin? Can’t… reach… button…! Didn’t Balki on Perfect Strangers have fun with “ridiculous”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324.md?page=2)