Origin of slang "redonk" (short for "redonkulous") meaning "ridiculous"

[butler1850]

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.

[Redonk_creator]

I created it. 4 yrs ago. It was crazy to see it grow! Websters here we come.

[sitchensis]

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

[shellofmyformerself]

If I’m not mistaken, “redonkulous” was also used by one of the pigeons in the kid’s movie “Bolt”.

[Fear_Itself]

@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.

[Telemark]

@muttrox

Didn’t Balki on Perfect Strangers have fun with “ridiculous”?

Well, of course not, don’t be ridiculous.

[Hampshire]

You guys are being ri-god-damn-diculous.

[TBG]

@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.

[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.

[Larry_Mudd]

@bouv

I assumed it was because dong is a slang term for dick, like cock is. So similar to how recockulous is used because cock is slang for dick, redonculous 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.”)

[mittu]

@bordelond

@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.

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.

[srzss05]

@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.

[11811]

[quote=“bordelond, post:11, topic:394324”]

@Autolycus

<snip>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.
<snip>

I think she’s thinking of “podunk.”

[Polycarp]

@bordelond

@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.

This may connect (though which is cause and which effect is debatable) with country singer Trace Atkins’ song Honky Tonk Badonkadonk (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.

[Autolycus]

Muff cabbage.

[Cayuga]

Wow. My first zombie resurrection.

The earliest use that the guy on the Freakonomics blog could find was in Roald Dahl’s The BFG. It’s a variant spelling, and in context, it sure seems as if Dahl was making it up.

“Redunculus and um-possible,” the BFG said.

[Acsenray]

@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.

[Petey]

@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.