# Ridiculous

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 26, 2004, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269 "2004-02-26T10:45:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Vaioman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecccb3/32.png) [@Vaioman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaioman)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/1 "2004-02-26T10:45:20Z")

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Hi.

This is how you spell ‘Ridiculous.’

Thank you.

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/2 "2004-02-26T13:38:19Z")

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Odd that there has been so many rediculous threads lately.

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**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/3 "2004-02-26T14:22:42Z")

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Got it. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/4 "2004-02-26T15:00:47Z")

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Well, sure, if you mean “silly” or “absurd”. But if you mean “was diculous, got better, now I’m diculous again” the correct spelling is “rediculous”.

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**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/5 "2004-02-26T15:12:50Z")

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No, no, no. It’s _riddikulus!_ Make sure you think of something funny while you say it, too.

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**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/6 "2004-02-26T15:44:12Z")

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The Height of the Ridiculous

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

I WROTE some lines once on a time   
In wondrous merry mood,   
And thought, as usual, men would say   
They were exceeding good.

They were so queer, so very queerz  
I laughed as I would die;   
Albeit, in the general way,   
A sober man am I.

I called my servant, and he came;   
How kind it was of him  
To mind a slender man like me,   
He of the mighty limb.

“These to the printer,” I exclaimed,   
And, in my humorous way,   
I added (as a trifling jest,)  
“There ’ll be the devil to pay.”

He took the paper, and I watched,   
And saw him peep within;   
At the first line he read, his face   
Was all upon the grin.

He read the next; the grin grew broad,   
And shot from ear to ear;   
He read the third; a chuckling noise   
I now began to hear.

The fourth; he broke into a roar;  
The fifth; his waistband split;   
The sixth; he burst five buttons off,   
And tumbled in a fit.

Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,   
I watched that wretched man,  
And since, I never dare to write   
As funny as I can.

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**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous/231269/7 "2004-02-26T15:46:15Z")

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Sorry not sure where that extra “Z” came from.