Several memes (often neologisms) that started on The Simpsons television series have now become mainstream words or sayings. The most famous of which is Homer's saying: "D'oh!", which is referred to in scripts, as well as several episode names, as "annoyed grunt". D'oh is now listed in the OED. Other memes are:

Contents

1 Bort 2 Cromulent and Embiggen 3 Homersexual 4 Knowitallism 5 Kwyjibo 6 Lupper 7 Meh 8 Redorkulated 9 Sacrilicious 10 Scotchtoberfest 11 Screamapillar 12 Skittlebrau 13 Smarch 14 Tomacco 15 Yvan Eht Nioj

Bort

Bort is a name which, in the series, appears to be very popular. The name first appears in the episode "Itchy & Scratchy Land ", when, at a gift shop, Bart Simpson is unable to find a novelty license plate with his name, the nearest match being Bort. At that time, there happen to be two people named Bort in the store, and later in the episode it is revealed that the gift shop has run out of Bort license plates.

The word "BORT" appears in a later episode, in a clip from a campy 70s Radioactive Man movie. The word appears, in the fashion of the Batman series of this era, in an explosion bubble and accompanied by sound effects.

ZUFF! PAN!! SNUH! BORT! POOO! NEWT! MINT! ZAK!

(SNUH also appears earlier, as an acronym for Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding, and Helping)

In the real world, bort is a term used in the diamond industry to refer to shards of gem-grade/quality diamonds. In the manufacturing and heavy industries, "bort" is used to describe dark, imperfectly formed/crystallized diamonds of varying levels of opacity. They are used as an industrial-grade abrasive.

Cromulent and Embiggen

When schoolteacher Edna Krabappel hears the Springfield town motto "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man," she comments that she never heard embiggens before moving to Springfield. Another teacher, Miss Hoover, replies that "it's a perfectly cromulent word".

Later in the same episode, while talking about Homer's audition for the role of town crier, Principal Skinner states "He's embiggened that role with his cromulent performance."

Based on the context in which Miss Hoover uses the word cromulent, we can interpret that it means "legitimate" or "appropriate". Lisa uses it later in that episode in a similar manner. Among Simpsons fans, the word cromulent has taken on an ironic meaning, to say that something is not at all legitimate and in fact spurious.

Embiggen can be interpreted to mean "to improve and make nobler" from the context in which the word is used. For example, a sentence that uses the word embiggen could be: "The spirit of Jebediah Springfield embiggens us all."

Both embiggen and cromulent were quickly adopted and used by Simpsons fans.

Homersexual

During a routine disciplinary visit to Principal Skinner's office, Bart must call Moe's Tavern looking for his father, Homer. But when Moe answers the phone, Bart preempts the original purpose of the call and substitutes one of his trademark prank-calls. Instead of asking for his father "Homer Simpson," Bart asks for "Homer-sexual." With the prank thus launched, Bart quickly hands the phone to the Principal, who is shocked and dismayed to hear the tirade of his former student, Moe Szyslak. (In another episode, Bart's prank-call backfires when Hugh Jass unexpectedly answers.)

Knowitallism

Knowitallism (also Know-it-all-ism) is a fictitious word made up by the faculty of Springfield Elementary School to describe Lisa Simpson's precocious personality. The students break into the school's vault and find their permanent records and when Lisa reads that her teachers have labelled her as suffering from "knowitallism", she exclaims, "That's not even a word!"

Kwyjibo

Kwyjibo (pronounced QUI-gee-bow) is a fictitious word made up by Bart Simpson during a game of Scrabble with his family. In the episode "Bart the Genius", Bart puts "Kwyjibo" on the board and scores upwards of 150 points (50 of those points having been obtained by using all his letters). When Homer Simpson asks Bart what a Kwyjibo is, Bart replies, "A big, dumb, balding North American ape. With no chin." Marge Simpson adds in, "…and a short temper". At this point, Homer chases Bart away, causing him to exclaim, "Uh oh! Kwyjibo on the loose!" Humorously enough, earlier in that same episode, Homer moans words to the effect of "How could anyone form a good word out of these letters?" His Scrabble letters spell OXIDIZE, and were arranged in that order. The word would be worth a minimum of 74 points, including 50 points for using all his letters.

Kwyjibo acquired some later notoriety as an alias used by the writer of the Melissa worm.

Kwyjibo was also adopted as the name of a relatively advanced and popular yo-yo string trick in 1999 by Taylor Whitley, the trick's creator. The trick is often misspelled as Kwijibo, possibly as a result of a webboard poster who went by that handle.

Lupper

When Bart and Lisa embarrass their parents while having brunch, Homer decides to leave and go to Moe's, stating he will see them at "lupper" (a portmanteau of lunch and supper).

It is worth noting that the character of Jughead Jones of Archie comics fame has been on record as using this word at least a decade prior to Homer's "coining".

Meh

Sheer and utter indifference. Thus;

Homer: Kids, how would you like to go to Blockoland?
Bart and Lisa: Meh.
Homer: But the TV gave me the impression that...
Bart: We said, "Meh".
Lisa: M-E-H. Meh.

Redorkulated

In one episode a hypnotist turns Professor Frink into a suave ladies man. When the spell wears off Frink says, "Oh no, I've redorkulated." Literally, the word means, "to have become a dork again."

Sacrilicious

Homer's word for a waffle on the ceiling that he mistakes for God. A portmanteau of sacrilegious and delicious.

Scotchtoberfest

Scotchtoberfest is a fake Scottish festival which was featured in the episode "Bart's Girlfriend ". It was invented by Principal Seymour Skinner to catch Bart Simpson red-handed in the act of perpetrating a prank, as is Bart's perennial wont. Groundskeeper Willy, the Scottish school janitor, plays the bagpipes whilst wearing a kilt. Bart lifts his kilt with helium balloons, and since Willy wears his kilt without underpants, at least one woman faints at the sight.

Since its appearance, some Scots have made Scotchtoberfest into a real festival, held on the third Friday of every October. For most people who celebrate it, it is simply "a celebration of all things Scottish". It is a pun on the Bavarian Oktoberfest.

Screamapillar

The screamapillar is a fictional animal featured on an episode of the animated TV series The Simpsons. It resembles a large orange caterpillar that screams nearly all the time, even as it sleeps. It is sexually attracted to fire, and requires constant consolation and encouragement. Because it is an endangered species, allowing it to perish is a federal offense. Judging by the picture on the brochure relating to its care, the screamapillar can grow to collossal proportions. This fact suggests that the screamapillar is not, in fact, a true caterpillar. However, another episode has a cameo of a similarly-screaming butterfly, suggesting that the brochure may be exaggerated. In any case, its behavior makes survival an unlikely prospect.

Skittlebrau

Skittlebrau is a type of beverage that looks like beer with candy floating on it. It is implied that Homer imagined it by mixing Skittles and beer (brew in German is bräu) in "Bart Star ". However, later episodes show Skittlebrau as an actual product. It is assumed the combination derives from the known phrase Life is not all beer and skittles from E. Cobham Brewer .

This has been tried in the real world, here among other places.

Smarch

In the Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror VI", the thirteenth month is Smarch. Smarch was, according to Marge Simpson, just a misprinted word on a calendar. Homer, however, didn't realize this and cursed the "lousy Smarch weather."

During the same episode, Groundskeeper Willie was allowed to burn to death by the Springfield PTA on Smarch 13th at 1:00 p.m., the thirteenth hour of the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month.

Tomacco

Main article: Tomacco

Tomacco is a fictional fruit that is half tomato and half tobacco. Tomacco is first created by Homer Simpson when he "plants a little bit of everything" (making sure to fertilize with stolen radioactive "goo") and ends up with a hybrid of tobacco and tomatoes. The result is a tomato that apparently has a tobacco center, and, although being described as tasting terrible by many characters, is also immediately and powerfully addictive. The creation is promptly labeled "Tomacco" by Homer and sold to unsuspecting passersby.

Yvan Eht Nioj

Yvan Eht Nioj (pronounced ) is a catchy chorus from the hit song Drop Da Bomb by the Party Posse in the episode "New Kids on the Blecch". It is actually a subliminal message encouraging listeners to join the navy, as the phrase "Yvan Eht Nioj" backwards is actually "Join the navy". Lisa Simpson discovers this while viewing a video of the Party Posse. The United States Navy operative Lt. L.T. Smash later reveals to Lisa that the Navy had a "three-pronged" plan for advertisement: the subliminal messages, their regular "liminal" messages, and super-liminal messages. Lisa does not understand what Smash means by "Super-liminal", so he demonstrates: Smash opens his office window and shouts to Lenny and Carl, who are passing on the street, "Hey you! Join the Navy!" They do.

Drop Da Bomb lyrics:

Oh, say can you rock!

There's trouble in a far-off nation.

Time to get in love formation.

Your love is more deadly than Saddam,

And that's why I gotta drop da bomb!

Party Posse!

Yvan eht nioj,

Yvan eht nioj,

Yvan eht nioj,

Yvan eht nioj —

Eht nioj.

(cuts to Homer and Lisa)

<Homer>: "Yvan eth nioj! You gotta love that crazy chorus!"

<Lisa>: "What does it mean?"

<Homer>: "Ah it doesn't mean anything. It's like "Rammer-Lammer Ding Dong" or "Give Peace a Chance".

(goes back to song)

This party is happenin',

It's no mirage.

So sing it again.

Yvan eht nioj!

Yvan eht nioj,

Yvan eht nioj.