Ellen DeGeneres, more celebs helping get CNY-invented word ‘orbisculate’ in dictionary - syracuse.com - Dictionary

Ellen DeGeneres and more celebrities are stepping up to help get a word that was invented in Central New York added to the dictionary.

“The Ellen Show” featured Syracuse University alumnus Jonathan Krieger and his sister Hilary Krieger on an episode Thursday talking about the word “orbisculate,” which their late father made up as part of a class assignment while he was a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in the 1950s. The word means “to accidentally squirt juice and/or pulp” from foods, such as a grapefruit, into one’s eye, or onto someone’s body, clothing or elsewhere.

Neil Krieger died of complications from Covid-19 last year, and his children have been trying to celebrate his memory by trying to make the word — which he used so often, they thought it was real for most of their lives — universally known. The easiest way to get it into the dictionary is for more people to use the word, so DeGeneres helped them out by putting up a huge billboard outside the Warner Bros. building where she tapes her daytime talk show.

“The only thing worse than missing Ellen is having a grapefruit orbisculate in your eye,” the sign said.

DeGeneres then further surprised Jonathan and Hilary with a video featuring other famous people using the word, including “Girls Trip” star Tiffany Haddish, CNN anchor Jake Tapper, comedian Sarah Silverman, and chef Jose Andres.

“Yeah, the problem with making yourself a drink that has some kind of like twist of lemon in it is - the risk is that the lemon could orbisculate into your eye,” Silverman said, imitating a squinting face. “And that always causes you to kind of do that. This is like a good reaction of orbisculation.”

Andres demonstrated such a mixed drink with a lemon, stepping back as he squeezed the fruit.

“Remember, you can always be orbisculated with a lemon!” Andres said before taking a sip. “Orbisculation or not, this is great.”

Jonathan, who graduated from SU’s Newhouse School in 2007, and Hilary, who graduated from Cornell like their dad, are also trying to raise money to benefit Carson’s Village, a Dallas non-profit that helps families after the loss of a loved one. DeGeneres announced Thursday that Shutterfly is donating $5,000 to the cause in memory of Neil Krieger.

“That’s wonderful,” Jonathan Krieger told DeGeneres. “Thank you so much.”

For more information on “orbisculate” and their efforts to get it in the dictionary, visit orbisculate.com.