# Retroactively bad Simpsons Episode **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418 "2009-06-11T04:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/1 "2009-06-11T04:32:03Z")
Inspired by this thread [Millionth+1 Word - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=520651), I am reminded that one of the funniest Simpsons episodes that I remember is the one where Lisa starts making up words, such as cromulent and embiggens, to impress people. This, is, of course, a funny and recent Simpsons episode. Now assuming that there will be in excess of 25,000 web references to these two hilarious non-words, they will, by the standard adopted by the web site that monitors this stuff, real words and come into the language. Suddenly, or over time, this episode will make no sense to people watching it because Lisa will not be making up words. I say that this is one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. What say you? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/2 "2009-06-11T05:38:37Z")
Lisa didn’t invent those words. They were unique to Springfield and used by the townsfolk in reference to the legend of the town founder, Jebediah Springfield. And the episode is only recent if “recent” means “within the last 20 years” - it was first aired seventeen and a half years ago. Google finds 57,600 and 67,400 hits for embiggen and cromulent, respectively. **Jebediah Springfield [on film]:** A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man. **Edna Crabapple:** Embiggens? I never heard that word before I moved to Springfield **Ms.Hoover:** I don’t know why. It’s a perfectly cromulent word. – from _Lisa the Iconoclast_, [Season 3 Episode 13](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F13.html) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/3 "2009-06-11T05:50:15Z")
Yeah, what **Cazzle** said. People do use those words, usually to be funny or to reference the Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/4 "2009-06-11T06:11:45Z")
I thought the Simpsons ended with Season 4. Yea, that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/5 "2009-06-11T12:23:40Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I say that this is one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. What say you? By the lords of cobal you may be onto something 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/6 "2009-06-11T15:39:40Z")
What the smeg? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/7 "2009-06-11T16:25:20Z")
It would be a big frakking mistake to get involved with that frell. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/8 "2009-06-11T16:29:11Z")
Shazbot, my jokes have been stolen. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/9 "2009-06-11T16:30:25Z")
Glaven. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/10 "2009-06-11T16:39:26Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > … And the episode is only recent if “recent” means “within the last 20 years” - it was first aired seventeen and a half years ago. > … > > Season 3 Episode 13 The production code was 3F13 but it was actually the sixteenth episode of the seventh season and first broadcast in 1996, just over 13 years ago. Uh-oh! SpaghettiOs! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/11 "2009-06-11T16:39:55Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Shazbot, my jokes have been stolen. So say we all (at one time or another). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/12 "2009-06-11T17:15:31Z")
“Oh, I’m sorry sir. I’m inuspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctious to have caused you such pericumbobulations.” ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/13 "2009-06-11T17:21:06Z")
This thread is giving me skin failure. \*Frelling \* skin failure. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/14 "2009-06-11T17:22:50Z")
Ooooooo, floor pie! ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/15 "2009-06-11T17:29:06Z")
I thought it was a perfectly cromulent episode. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/16 "2009-06-11T17:50:11Z")
…he chortled in his joy. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/17 "2009-06-11T17:56:37Z")
I bent my Wookie. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/18 "2009-06-11T18:21:33Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > This thread is giving me skin failure. > > \*Frelling \* skin failure. If your skin was based on nanu nanu technology it wouldnt be ripping so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/19 "2009-06-11T18:34:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Oh, I’m sorry sir. I’m inuspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctious to have caused you such pericumbobulations.” Care for a sausage? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418/20 "2009-06-11T18:40:00Z")
The Simpsons are hillarious. I better get my old tapes from the garage. SDMB: Garage? Hey, fellas, the garage. Well ooh la-di-da Mr. Frenchman. Me: Well, what do you call it? SDMB: A car hole! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retroactively-bad-simpsons-episode/499418.md?page=2)