I did not receive the memo about "ginormous."
I have ascertained, from the usage that I have overheard, that this is combination of "gigantic" and "enormous." Over the last week or so I have heard the word used by at least a half dozen people, both men and women, young and older, in various places. Each time, the person who the speaker was speaking to did not stop and correct the speaker or question the speaker so I can only gather that this new term is being or has been accepted into our current lexicon.
I do not object to the creation of new words. I do not, even, have anything against "made up" words (or names, for that matter). Afterall, all words (and names) are made up at some point by some one.
It is just that I was not informed about nor invited to participate in the discussion around ginormous. Was enorgantic ever under consideration? Gimongous? As a social and behavioral scientist I am very interested in scaling: What is the metric for ginormous? Twice as much as gigantic and/or enormous? More than gigantic but not quite enormous?
Where did this term originate? I am somewhat out of touch these days, so perhaps I am just unaware of a movie or a television show or a song or a celebrity that has made the word popular. Maybe this is just a Minnesota thing?
Well, at any rate, have a Happy Monday. Hope your Thanksgiving is ensafable.
Well you made me curious so I checked the OED in which ginormous is classified as slang and the usage is traced back to 1948. I thought the most interesting usage was from sailors, who used ginormous to describe a run-in with the enemy, or a raid against the enemy. I've heard this word used many times and never really thought to much about it.
Posted by: Jenny at November 20, 2006 03:32 PMI think my sister once told me that this term was made popular by the ladies on the Sex in the City TV show. Use your imagination to what they were originally referring.
Posted by: freealonzo at November 20, 2006 04:03 PMHappy Thanskgiving! I hope it's relaxing.
Posted by: Mieke at November 23, 2006 11:48 AMI heard sort of the same as Jenny; that ginormous was first heard being coined by the allies during World War II. The military have given us plenty of terms which have seaped into civillian use: over the top, going AWOL, gone doolally.
Posted by: Huw at November 23, 2006 06:00 PMAha, very interesting: a WWII term referencing an enemy encounter resurfacing from SitC referencing an encounter of quite a different kind! Thanks for the research and info, all.
And Mieke, out T'giving was calm, but nice! Hope yours was nice as well.
Posted by: Yvette at November 24, 2006 06:02 PM