Humdinger

[Dr. Goodword]

• humdinger •

Pronunciation: hêm-ding-gêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: (Colloquial) Something truly excellent, one of the very best of its kind.

Notes: Here is another common and popular word that you probably wouldn't want to use on your college application but is OK in almost all other circumstances. It is a lexical orphan, with no clearly related family since it is not derived from some verb humding. No, it is unrelated to that humdinger of a vehicle, the Humvee, also called a Hummer. Humvee comes from the abbreviation HMMWV of that so, so romantic name "High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle".

In Play: Anything that is an outstanding representative of its kind is, colloquially speaking, a humdinger: "Matt Tremoni is about to marry a humdinger of a woman with a six-figure income and a father who owns a liquor store." Well, this turns out to be a humdinger of a lie: Matt is engaged to the town librarian whose dad is in rehab.

Word History: Today a ding is the sound of metal striking metal or the dent left by metal striking metal. However, this word began its life meaning to hit, strike, or even smash. A dinger, then, would mean someone or something striking, even smashing—a hit, so to speak. Where the hum comes from remains a mystery. English does have an interjection that was once used for emphasis or to indicate deep thought. It is often spelled hmmm, but the Oxford English Dictionary lists it as hum. Might it have been added as a verbal exclamation point? (Today we thank Colin Burt for suggesting such a humdinger of a Good Word as today's.)

[Slava]

I never knew the origins of "Hummer." Now I do. Too bad I don't like them either way.

I've never come across this word without a lie attached. It is interesting to see it used in more positive ways.

As an extra, the idea of ding reminds me of the much hated parking lot event, the door-dingy. That's when someone opens their car door and it's a tad too close to your car. You get a nice little dent where their door hit your car. Door-dingy.

We need a new word/phrase for the marks massive SUVs, such as the Hummer, leave from their tires on your car as they brush against them. I've seen several of those on my wee vehicle.

[LukeJavan8]

In the movie "Bless the Beasts and the Children", with
the song made famous by Karen Carpenter, a "Ding"
is a person who does not fit in. Obviously, then, the
movie is about a boys camp filled with kids who do not
fit in at home, school, etc.

[jacobcak545]

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[bnjtokyo]

Dr. Goodword and site administrators:

Please something needs to be done about Jacobcak545 who, at best, is spewing spam. I think all Agorans will thank you for it

[LukeJavan8]

Agree totally, bnj, but he/she is not the first.
This spam and type of posting has happened
before, and on the site Doc ran before
beginning the Agora site. They do this posting
and then run amok.
Hey Doc, close down jacobcak.

[Philip Hudson]

jacobcak: If you would actually join in the fray you would be most welcome.

Humdinger is a word straight out of the hinterlands. I always enjoy it and use it to good effect. I am sorry some of you city folk don't cotton to it, bless your hearts.

[LukeJavan8]

I cotton to it.
And jacobcak posted a real humdinger.

[Dr. Goodword]

jacobcak545 is a spammer. S/He is banned.

[LukeJavan8]

I, for one, am appreciative, Doc.
thanks.

[bnjtokyo]

I, too, thank you. Now if we could delete those obnoxious posts. Is such possible?

[Dr. Goodword]

I think I deleted them all. S/he posted 19, but I didn't count as I manually deleted them. If you spot any I missed, let me know.

[bnjtokyo]

Dr. Goodword, I'll look around but I can say the one posted in this very "humdinger" tread on Oct 24, 2020 is still there, today, Oct 31.