The Secret Language Of Douches

"Ridonkulous" has reached widespread acceptance now, yet I'm still not entirely sure what the appeal is. It's not a pun: "gigundous," another recent invention that's been catapaulted into the mainstream, is clearly the merging of gigantic and humongous; "ridonkulous" is the combination of ridiculous and...what, exactly?

Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English suggests that the etymology is "possibly a blend of ridiculous and donkey" but that's hardly satisfying. It's not like "donkey" makes any sense in the context or is a commonly used meme. That is, if the word were "rininjalous," I'd understand its douchey appeal.

I suppose the increasing use of the word can be chalked up to its absurdist nature, which as you know is never my favorite thing.

This reminds me of a recent Vice essay about slang that makes the point that words like "ridonkulous" and "gigundous" are clever and funny if you actually make them up, otherwise its just the tired parroting of someone else's coining.

But what's interesting is another clever coining that's since entered our lexicon: "humongous," believe it or not, only dates back to the 1960s...it's a blend of huge and monstrous. We've been using it our entire life, never suspecting that it's just slang from the Laugh-In era that's became a mainstream English word.

And that's rininjalous.