Ginormous Step for Mankind

Wow. So this morning I open yahoo as I do every morning to get my minor dose of news that doesn't entirely center on the way in Iraq. (don't get me started, don't EVEN get me started.) Generally I like yahoo's variety in "news" because a lot of time they have some interesting random articles.
The first article that pops up is about the new Merriam-Webster Dictionary edition that will be coming out this fall. But what REALLY caught my eye was the word they chose to highlight in one of many additions - GINORMOUS. That's right folks, "ginormous" is now an official word according to Merriam-Webster. Now some might scoff at this saying it's just a combo of gigantic and enormous, and technically it is, however, it's so much more than that. Being a strong proponent of this word, I was elated to discover it's inclusion in the new edition of the dictionary. And most especially (and I'm sure this might be the same for many of you) because I love the movie Elf so very much. This movie is most likely the first place many heard the word in use. Buddy the elf says it while examining the toilets, "Have you seen these toilets? They're GINORMOUS!" and my love for the word was born. I incorporated it into my every day use. So I'm thrilled that I am actually "correct" now. However, apparently the word has roots in World War II and first appeared sometime in the late 1940's - wow!
This really struck me though because a few weeks ago I was talking to my family and my younger sister said, "wow that is ginormous!" in reference to something. My mom waited until she was out of earshot and whispered to me, "Do you think she knows that isn't a real word?? And that it's a combination of two other words?" To which I replied, "hmmm, I don't know, she's got to know, but then, maybe she doesn't. I'll tell her later." And I did, I asked my sister if she knew it was a made up word and she laughed and said of course she did, but when I asked her if she knew which two words it was made up of she had a little more trouble coming up with an answer. Though eventually I think she did... anyway this is why I had "ginormous" on the brain, and I'm just all around excited that words like "ginormous" "crunk" and the all important "smackdown" are now in the English language as official words.