Wumbo

About

"Wumbo" is a nonsensical word that first appeared in an episode of the series SpongeBob SquarePants.

Origin

On January 21st, 2002, the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" premiered in the United States. In the episode, SpongeBob ends up with Mermaid Man's utility belt and accidentally shrinks a pestered Squidward. He goes to his best friend Patrick for help, who explains that he has the belt set to 'M' for "Mini" when it should apparently be set to 'W' for "Wumbo". He then turns the 'M' upside-down and begins to explain the definition of the word "Wumbo" (seen in the following clip).

Spread

The scene became a popular SpongeBob reference among the fandom and was referenced in numerous image posts and videos in the years since the episode aired. On Tumblr,^[1] hundreds of posts related to "Wumbo" have been submitted by different users (examples shown below).

On July 9th, 2017, YouTuber Monkey Trouble posted an Attack on Titan parody using audio of the scene, gaining over 23,000 views (shown below, left). On July 1st, YouTuber PixelatedIvan made a similar parody using the Mario Brothers.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References