# Words TV has added to our vocabulary **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149 "2012-01-20T17:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/1 "2012-01-20T17:37:47Z")
In another thread in a different forum someone posted: “Unpossible. If someone had thought of Zapp Brannigan surely they would have mentioned it in the thread already.” People now use “unpossible” to mean “impossible” but in a silly context. Of course there’s “embiggen” a perfectly cromulent word. IRL I hear “cromulent” used a lot more than it should be. Embiggen, not so much. Both these examples are from The Simpsons and originally the title of this thread was _Words The Simpsons have added to our vocabulary_ but I thought it would be more illuminating to include all TV shows. Are there many more? ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/2 "2012-01-20T17:42:32Z")
**[COLOR=“Red”]Bazinga![/COLOR]** ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/3 "2012-01-20T17:55:19Z")
Shazam. I know it’s originally the name of the wizard who gave Billy Batson the power to turn into Captain Marvel. but I’ll bet more people are familiar with it from hearing Gomer Pyle say it. ---
**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:** [January 20, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/4 "2012-01-20T17:59:34Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > In another thread in a different forum someone posted: “Unpossible. If someone had thought of Zapp Brannigan surely they would have mentioned it in the thread already.” People now use “unpossible” to mean “impossible” but in a silly context. Unpossible was a joke word when I was a kid, decades before the Simpsons. “Holy something” as a phrase came from Batman and still gets used a lot. Though nobody ever uses my favorite, “Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/5 "2012-01-20T18:19:46Z")
TV didn’t gibe us the word, but certainly popularized it. Stephen Jay Gould wrote a column wondering how it was that the word **segue** (which he knew from his experiences in music) made it into everyday discourse, and finally concluded that it was because of Johnny Carson’s frequent use of it on _The Tonight Show_. I haven’t come across another interpretation, and recall Carson’s use of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/6 "2012-01-20T18:23:25Z")
What about “re-gifting” from _Seinfeld_? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/7 "2012-01-20T18:23:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “Holy something” as a phrase came from Batman and still gets used a lot. Though nobody ever uses my favorite, “Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods!” Robin: Holy oleo! Catwoman: I didn’t know you could yodel, Boy Wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/8 "2012-01-20T19:02:21Z")
Truthiness, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/9 "2012-01-20T19:09:34Z")
Too bad the dozens introduced (and run into the ground) on _Laugh In_ didn’t survive the 70’s. You bet your bippy The fickle finger of fate award Sock it to me Here come the judge Verrry Interesting ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/10 "2012-01-20T19:20:11Z")
“Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls” was also a popular phrase from Laugh In. Schwing! From Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) on SNL. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/11 "2012-01-20T19:27:43Z")
> [@Sally\_Mander](#): > > What about “re-gifting” from _Seinfeld_? Or _spongeworthy_. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/12 "2012-01-20T19:40:44Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Or _spongeworthy_. Or _Yadda-yadda-yadda._ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/13 "2012-01-20T19:43:11Z")
Warp speed. And many other Star Trek words. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/14 "2012-01-20T19:44:03Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Too bad the dozens introduced (and run into the ground) on _Laugh In_ didn’t survive the 70’s. > > You bet your bippy > The fickle finger of fate award > Sock it to me > Here come the judge > Verrry Interesting Don,t want to be a jerk but those aren’t words. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/15 "2012-01-20T19:46:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Warp speed. > > And many other Star Trek words. Like “techno-babble.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/16 "2012-01-20T19:47:03Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Don,t want to be a jerk but those aren’t words. Okay, go with bippy then. There were others from that show that I’m not recalling, but that didn’t last all that long. And even bippy may have been from somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/17 "2012-01-20T19:49:09Z")
On the Seinfeld trend here, I think the one I hear most often would be the usage of Nazi to refer to someone who has a strict set of rules and we see it generalized constantly, grammar nazi probably one of the most common versions, but I hear it in other contexts fairly often. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/18 "2012-01-20T19:54:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Or _Yadda-yadda-yadda._ Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/19 "2012-01-20T20:25:33Z")
Another show that provided some great new words was _The Sopranos_, most of which aren’t often found in “polite conversation.” ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149/20 "2012-01-20T20:40:22Z")
> [@Sally\_Mander](#): > > What about “re-gifting” from _Seinfeld_? BZZZTTTT Nope, I knew and used this word decades ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-tv-has-added-to-our-vocabulary/610149.md?page=2)