“Embiggen” Officially Recognized By Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary
The constant evolution of words in the English language is interesting. In 1991, “spam” was mostly understood to mean “processed mystery meat.” In 1997 it was the term for unsolicited E-mails with garbled pitches for shifty products. By 2012, the definition had expanded to become a verb, describing any repetitive act done in quick succession (“don’t spam that attack,” “just spam the A button”, etc). Today Merriam-Webster announced they’re officially considering the informal term “embiggen” a word. Though the first recorded use of “embiggen” dates back to a book published in 1884, it was introduced to most of the world through a Season 7 episode of The Simpsons, “Lisa The Iconoclast.” In the episode’s opening scenes Lisa is watching an educational film about Jebediah Springfield, the founder of their town, who is noted for speaking the words “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man!” The joke here is that this was a strange way to put it, even though Ms Krabappel points out that “embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word.”