Splendiferous · 10:35pm Nov 19th, 2015
Splendiferous. You've probably heard the word before, most frequently enunciated by Pinkie Pie, or the local equivalent thereof.
Because of this, you might, at times, want to use it in a story.
Today, I did just that while writing my latest story, a MarbleMac piece which may-or-may-not be coming out soon, depending on how it goes.
However, I discovered something strange while doing so - Word didn't recognize the word as a misspelling.
"How is this possible?" I wondered. "There's no way that splendiferous is a real word."
So naturally, I Googled splendiferous.
First result, set aside in a box at the top of the page:
splen·dif·er·ous
ˌsplenˈdif(ə)rəs/
adjective informal humorous
splendid.
"a splendiferous Sunday dinner"
Merriam-Webster agrees, though disagrees on what it means:
extraordinarily or showily impressive
— splen·dif·er·ous·ly adverb
— splen·dif·er·ous·ness noun
Yes, it even contains suggested conjugations of the word. Thanks, Merriam-Webster!
So, yes. Apparently splendiferous is a perfectly cromulent word. Now you know.
And knowing is half the battle!
This is great! Words that people think aren't words, are words!
It's always a treat to see what is and isn't recognized by a given spell checker. I still remember laughing at how some of the first versions of Word that used the red dotted underline wouldn't recognize "Microsoft."
I'm sorry I died of laughter at the "Knowing is half the battle part" So I cannot post a comment.
3554143 I also laughed my ass off at that, but I DO have a comment
I actually knew about splendiferous before Pinkie Pie *cue hipster mode*
My first instance of hearing the word is from Tigger.
I can't find the source to save my life, but there are other people just as crazy as me!
Ebay thing
Pinterest thing
3554423 OH! I remember hearing that word from Tigger too!
3554423
Tigger and Pinkie Pie would get along well.
3554520 I kinda want to see Discord being Tigger. They are both the only ones, and Discord could literally have a top of rubber and a bottom of springs
And they are both the only ones of their kind!
I think I'm more surprised that it actually has legitimate Latin roots and isn't some nonsense word made up by Shakespeare or Carroll that passed into the accepted lexicon.
3554538
To be fair, those roots might be exactly why it is so easy to understand what it means, despite ostensibly being a nonsense word.
What's interesting to me is that -ferous root; I've seen it a lot, but somehow was never actually conscious of what it meant, and yet my brain still managed to make use of it.
Also, the word apparently dates from 1843, which is significantly older than I gave it credit for.
Did most people think it wasn't a word? I thought it was. Probably couldn't have given you a sure definition, but I could've approximated. Where's it from, anyway? Not the show, right?
#teambluelasers
If it surprises you that splendiferous is a word, you may or may not be also surprised that, as of last year, so is amazeballs.
And that the Oxford Dictionary's 'Word of the Year' for 2015 is a fscking emoji.