# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/21 "2010-03-24T16:02:53Z")
In the early 90s we had the redonkulous scale for rating women’s hotness around the fraternity house. It was mostly nonsense, with lots of modifiers, and double negatives to further confuse the issue. It was all in good fun then, and I’m not sure where it came from, but the word as a concept has been around since at least then. I’m not going to presume that it spawned it’s popularity our of our living room, 20 years later. Someone in show biz somehow must have started using it, and now it’s out there. ---
**Author:** ![Redonk\_creator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Redonk\_creator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redonk_creator)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/22 "2010-10-15T04:00:34Z")
I created it. 4 yrs ago. It was crazy to see it grow! Websters here we come. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/23 "2010-10-15T05:25:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by 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. The banjo sound in my experience is reminiscent of the dueling banjos sound from the movie Deliverence. It can be applied (negatively) to all things red neck and country, but unless you’re an asshole its usually reserved for just creepy rural situations. It has nothing to do with badonkadunk, which is a nice ass ---
**Author:** ![shellofmyformerself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@shellofmyformerself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shellofmyformerself)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/24 "2010-10-15T10:55:32Z")
If I’m not mistaken, “redonkulous” was also used by one of the pigeons in the kid’s movie “Bolt”. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/25 "2010-10-15T12:34:30Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > 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…! The only time I’ve heard CBG talk like that is when he says, “Worst. Episode. _Ever_” or variations on that. Seems like it is done for emphasis, not emulation of superheros. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/26 "2010-10-15T12:59:30Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > Didn’t Balki on Perfect Strangers have fun with “ridiculous”? Well, of course not, don’t be ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/27 "2010-10-15T14:13:58Z")
You guys are being ri-god-damn-diculous. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/28 "2010-10-15T21:19:02Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > I think it’s just people playing around with common words to make them sound funny. > > I also hear “recockulous” and “ridicurous”. Unlike redonkulous, there’s more to those than just sounding funny. Recockulous is replacing dic[k] with cock. Joey P already covered ridicurous earlier in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Astronaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bad\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/29 "2010-10-15T22:34:56Z")
> [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](#): > > That annoying little gnome creature from whatever online service uses it. I haven’t heard it otherwise. I hate him. I was going to post this as well (the Expedia gnome used it in one or more TV commercials). I think it was probably at least 5 years ago. I don’t recall hearing ‘redonkulous’ before that. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/30 "2010-10-16T02:44:18Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > 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. This is my assumption. (Coupled with the extra length and girth that “dong” connotes as to apposed to mere “dick.”) ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/31 "2010-10-16T07:20:34Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > [QUOTE=Jayrot] > I think it’s just people playing around with common words to make them sound funny. 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. [/QUOTE] It was used in The Big Bang Theory as well. > [@](#): > > Raj: That’s what you’re wearing. > > Penny: Um, yeah, why what’s wrong with it? > > Raj: Nothing, I was just hoping for something a little more, you know, redonkulous. > > Penny: Yeah, well, this is all the donkulous you’re gonna get. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/32 "2010-10-16T07:34:07Z")
> [@Bad\_Astronaut](#): > > > [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](#): > > > > That annoying little gnome creature from whatever online service uses it. I haven’t heard it otherwise. I hate him. > > I was going to post this as well (the Expedia gnome used it in one or more TV commercials). I think it was probably at least 5 years ago. I don’t recall hearing ‘redonkulous’ before that. Seeing as this is a zombie thread from 3 years ago, that’s about right. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/33 "2010-10-16T17:10:54Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > [QUOTE=Autolycus] > > \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 think she’s thinking of “podunk.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/34 "2010-10-16T18:34:43Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > [QUOTE=Autolycus] > Perhaps it’s origin is tied in to the phrase “badonkadonk” … 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] This may connect (though which is cause and which effect is debatable) with country singer Trace Atkins’ song [Honky Tonk Badonkadonk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9VzEulip9Q) (Link to Youtube video.) Urban Dictionary (of slang; reader-created) connects it to (female) buttocks and/or to genitalia … but then, a wide variety of otherwise innocuous terms are used slangily with one or both of those meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/35 "2010-10-17T02:05:27Z")
Muff cabbage. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/36 "2011-09-08T12:37:53Z")
Wow. My first zombie resurrection. The earliest use that the guy on the [Freakonomics blog](http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/06/07/roald-dahl-and-the-word-redunculus/) could find was in Roald Dahl’s _The BFG_. It’s a variant spelling, and [in context](http://books.google.com/books?id=lrDk5YLIh_oC&q=redunculus&dq=redunculus&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0&client=firefox-a&cd=2), it sure seems as if Dahl was making it up. > [@](#): > > “Redunculus and _um_-possible,” the BFG said. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/37 "2011-09-08T13:42:03Z")
> [@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.). He doesn’t _always_ talk in pauses. There was a specific episode – “The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show” – in which he posted the review “Worst. Episode. Ever.” on the internet. And I seem to recall that we saw it in print with the periods. I’m certain I encountered that speech and writing pattern long before Comic Book Guy, but that episode did set off a wave of popularity for it. ---
**Author:** ![Petey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@Petey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petey)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324/38 "2011-09-11T02:34:52Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > He doesn’t _always_ talk in pauses. There was a specific episode – “The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show” – in which he posted the review “Worst. Episode. Ever.” on the internet. And I seem to recall that we saw it in print with the periods. > > I’m certain I encountered that speech and writing pattern long before Comic Book Guy, but that episode did set off a wave of popularity for it. The method of speaking with short bursts and pauses is often used to imitate William Shatner on Star Trek. It was used by the MST3K guys in 1989’s “The Crawling Hand”. It was probably used long before them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-slang-redonk-short-for-redonkulous-meaning-ridiculous/394324.md?page=1)