A World of Many Hats and Not Enough Shoes

A little while ago I told of Miriam and her blood covered alligator's mouth.  When I was typing her quote, I honestly did a double take at the word "ginormous."  I mean, it was actually the word she said, but I stopped because I was thinking, "What a silly word combo Miriam made up!"  Because believe-you-me, she has created some masterful name/word combinations in her little life.

Then a few days ago, Josh had written the word "ginormous" on something. I giggled and said, "You learned that from Miriam!  She totally made up that word."  To which he says, "No, it's a real word."

"ginormous

One entry found.

Main Entry: gi·nor·mous

Pronunciation: \ji-'n?r-m?s\

Function: adjective

Etymology: gigantic + enormous

Date: circa 1948

: extremely large : humongous"

From Merriam-Webster

Who would have guessed!  Turns out the word actually landed itself in the dictionary back in 2007.  According to this article from THE USA Today, it started showing up in print in 2000, even though it originates back to 1948.  

The first question in my mind is, "How did she know this was a real word and I didn't?"

My second question is, "How many more of what I think are Miriamisms, are truly words?"