How popular is the word “cromulent”? If I use this word in conversation with native speakers, doesn’t it look out of place?

Question

In today’s post, “What’s the antonym for recommend?” an answerer answered "I discourage the blue sweater sounds perfectly cromulent.”

As I am utterly unfamiliar with the word, “cromulent,” I looked for its meaning in Oxford, Cambridge and Merriam-Webster online dictionaries to find none of them registers this word. And Window Word 7 spelling checker keeps suggesting me to correct “cromulent” into “corpulent” or “crapulent” at this right moment I’m writing this question.

However, Wikitionary registers “cromulent,” and provides the definition as:

• Fine, acceptable or normal; excellent, realistic, legitimate or authentic.

(Origin) 1996 February 18, Matt Groening et al., “Lisa the Iconoclast”, The Simpsons, Season 7, Episode 16.

I wonder how popular this word is among English speaking world. If a non-native speaker like me whose stock of vocabulary is very limited and are totally unsure of the good command of English uses this word in conversation with you - native speakers, does it sound out of place or overreaching?

Answer 1

• 'Cromulent' is simply a made-up word, in fact, made up to describe another made-up word from the Simpson's animated show.
• It was coined, as you noted, by the writers for that Simpsons episode in 1996. It has only caught on in certain circles. A very small minority of English speakers would recognize it and use it properly (as a synonym of 'acceptable').
• Merriam-Webster, OED, etc, regularly try to add new words that are accepted with their given standards. I'm not sure exactly what standards each dictionary has, but usually frequency of use or usage in major/commonly read publications is one measure. A staff with editorial oversight usually makes these decisions to publish new words as officially recognized.
• Wikipedia and Wiktionary are publically editable. There is some editorial oversight but only to the extent of stopping bad behavior, not really of content. As democratic and well-meaning as that is, it may not be particularly accurate or have the right nuance as to frequency of usage (not that M-W or OED is necessarily better at that, but their editorial process is more painstaking).

Answer 2

I would steer clear of that one. It only exists as a joke in that Simpsons episode you referenced. Ms. Hoover only used it to support another joke word: embiggens. No one uses it seriously, but you might get a laugh out of it.

Answer 3

Cromulent is somewhat of a self-demeaning joke that suggests a vapid and meaningless — but surprisingly pleasant — good thing. Its exact meaning is virtually impossible to convey since half of its purpose exists to not mean anything.

"I discourage the blue sweater" sounds perfectly cromulent.

To elaborate on this example, the writer is suggesting that discourage is appropriate answer for the original question but doesn't have any particular reason for it being so. Cromulent simultaneously suggests that discourage sounds good while pointing out that worrying about what a word sounds like is extremely nerdy and worth a good teasing. This teasing isn't meant to be applied toward the original question, however. The target of the joke here is the writer of the answer.

The reason this second meaning is attached is because cromulent only comes into play when the writer wants to sound impressive in an attempt to garner favor from the audience via a weird form of an appeal to authority. There are plenty of perfectly good words to use in place of cromulent but, instead of using those words, the writer chose a fancy, pretentious word in its place. Except... it isn't actually a word. It just sounds like a word. It thereby defeats its own purpose and makes the speaker sound less authoritative.

Except now it is a word because it fits in nicely with those of us who overanalyze stuff like the way words sound and what words mean. To get the full force of the joke, a suitable replacement for the fake word should be used as an adverb immediately before it. And — in a final fit of self-referential humor — cromulent sounds wonderfully cromulent. How can you resist using it?

Naturally, the more it is used the less of all of the above applies. Eventually it will probably just mean something like "pretentiously pleasant" with a footnote in its etymology of how it once was an inside joke amongst linguists and fans of the Simpson's.

Answer 4

I don't watch The Simpsons, so saw the word here for the first times a few days ago. I suppose the equivalent in British English might be kosher.

Answer 5

I have used the word myself and consider it a specific form of the word "valid" where applying to a word being proper or used properly. The last two times I used the word, my listener understood the word from having seen or heard the Simpson's episode it was used in. I think if enough English speakers are using it in 50 years it should then truly be considered cromulent and hence listed in reputable dictionaries and not just online places anyone can edit.