TMC
07-09-2022, 10:04 AM
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/seinfeld-episode-shrinkage-oral-history
Before ‘Seinfeld,’ there was no English word to describe what happens to your junk in cold air and water. But after it first appeared in a 1994 episode, the world couldn’t get enough of that frightened turtle
“I was in the pool! I was in the pool!”
That was George Costanza’s panicked defense of his underwhelming penis size after Jerry’s girlfriend walked in on him naked in the Seinfeld episode “The Hamptons.” In the next scene, George recounts this to Jerry, explaining that the pool’s cold water had affected his appearance. Then, Jerry replies by saying, “You mean… shrinkage?” “Yes!” George snaps back, “Significant shrinkage!”
Just about every guy has experienced the phenomenon of shrinkage — be it after a swim or because of cold weather — but it wasn’t until May 12, 1994 that they had a single, perfect word to describe it. “You mean… shrinkage?” is all Jerry needed to say, and instantly, every guy understood what was going on.
While a good number of words in the American lexicon can be traced to Seinfeld’s popularity, “shrinkage” may be the best example of a truly Seinfeld-ian word, if only because no other word can substitute (not to take anything away from “yada yada yada,” but in most situations, “blah blah blah” would be about as effective). With “shrinkage,” nothing in the thesaurus even comes close — there isn’t even medical terminology to describe it. It’s simply a perfect word.
Credit for the phrase belongs to Peter Mehlman, the same Seinfeld writer who gave us “yada yada yada” in Season Eight, “spongeworthy” in Season Seven and “double-dipper” in Season Four. Mehlman began writing for Seinfeld early on, starting with “The Apartment” in Season Two, and ending with “The Maid” in the final season. For the “The Hamptons,” which he co-wrote with Carol Leifer during Season Five, Mehlman says that the scene with George being seen naked wasn’t in his original plans. But an off-hand conversation with Larry David suddenly spawned the word “shrinkage,” which gave the episode its most memorable moment and armed English-speaking men around the world with a way to describe an age-old problem.
Here’s how it all went down…
Before ‘Seinfeld,’ there was no English word to describe what happens to your junk in cold air and water. But after it first appeared in a 1994 episode, the world couldn’t get enough of that frightened turtle
“I was in the pool! I was in the pool!”
That was George Costanza’s panicked defense of his underwhelming penis size after Jerry’s girlfriend walked in on him naked in the Seinfeld episode “The Hamptons.” In the next scene, George recounts this to Jerry, explaining that the pool’s cold water had affected his appearance. Then, Jerry replies by saying, “You mean… shrinkage?” “Yes!” George snaps back, “Significant shrinkage!”
Just about every guy has experienced the phenomenon of shrinkage — be it after a swim or because of cold weather — but it wasn’t until May 12, 1994 that they had a single, perfect word to describe it. “You mean… shrinkage?” is all Jerry needed to say, and instantly, every guy understood what was going on.
While a good number of words in the American lexicon can be traced to Seinfeld’s popularity, “shrinkage” may be the best example of a truly Seinfeld-ian word, if only because no other word can substitute (not to take anything away from “yada yada yada,” but in most situations, “blah blah blah” would be about as effective). With “shrinkage,” nothing in the thesaurus even comes close — there isn’t even medical terminology to describe it. It’s simply a perfect word.
Credit for the phrase belongs to Peter Mehlman, the same Seinfeld writer who gave us “yada yada yada” in Season Eight, “spongeworthy” in Season Seven and “double-dipper” in Season Four. Mehlman began writing for Seinfeld early on, starting with “The Apartment” in Season Two, and ending with “The Maid” in the final season. For the “The Hamptons,” which he co-wrote with Carol Leifer during Season Five, Mehlman says that the scene with George being seen naked wasn’t in his original plans. But an off-hand conversation with Larry David suddenly spawned the word “shrinkage,” which gave the episode its most memorable moment and armed English-speaking men around the world with a way to describe an age-old problem.
Here’s how it all went down…