Our Ginormous God
Sam Rainer
The vernacular luminaries at Merriam-Webster recently released their new agglomeration of words. One notable green grandiloquism is the word “ginormous.” While I thought this nugatory term was relegated to the halls of local junior high schools, it appears my appraisal was amiss.
About one hundred fresh words officially enter our vocabulary this week. Bee-spellers everywhere are shelling out hard-earned allowances to read the latest entries.
In case you didn’t catch it, “ginormous” is an adjective combining the words “gigantic” and “enormous.” The term isn’t all that new – it actually has roots in the 1940s and 1950s as military slang. But since no word existed for something terribly large, we had to combine two words to describe the enormity. It’s, like, you know… hugosity to the second power. Yes, that big.
After reading about the new words, I realized the inadequacies of our language. Calling God ginormous just doesn’t seem big enough. How difficult it is for us to comprehend the eternal God – how vast the sum of His ways.
Grasping the moliminous nature of God is impossible this side of eternity. And our worship should reflect the humility and lowliness of our human condition. Words cannot describe the great sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. The word for the amount of joy we have as Christians doesn’t exist. Because without Him we deserve nothing more than the flagitious ranarium of hell.
“But since no word existed for something terribly large” I thought that’s what gigantic and enormous meant?
Unfortunately ‘enormous’ and ‘gigantic’ are not quite of gargantuan proportions. The two had to be combined to make the colossal word, “ginormous.” Given the inadequacies of the English language to describe something of mammoth immensity, I’m glad the monolithic word “ginormous” was created.
And I thought my 6 year old made up that word “ginormous.”
I agree. And as an English nerd, I enjoyed this post.