induhvidual

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English

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Etymology

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Blend of individual +‎ duh. In 1995, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams asked readers of the Dilbert Newsletter to come up with a "good derogatory nickname for non-DNRC [Dogbert's New Ruling Class, the official Dilbert fanclub] people" that "should sound harmless and endearing but have a clever double meaning", ultimately selecting "induhvidual" (submitted by "Heather of Beantown") as the winning entry.[1][2] Issues of the newsletter since then have included a section called "True Tales of Induhviduals" featuring reader-contributed stories about people doing foolish things.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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induhvidual (plural induhviduals)

  1. (slang, derogatory) A foolish person, especially one whose blundering creates difficulty for others.
    • 1999 November 30, Kim L. Serkes, “Draconian Plan”, in The San Francisco Chronicle:
      These are the same induhviduals who can't be bothered to pull their behemoths into the block-long bus zones fiercely defended by $250 fines.

Quotations

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Roger Craig Aden, Popular Stories and Promised Lands: Fan Cultures and Symbolic Pilgrimages, University of Alabama Press (1999), →ISBN, pages 135-136
  2. 2.0 2.1 induhvidual on WordSpy.com