Happy Birth-Dingus (A Dingus Primer)

Happy Birthday Steven D., a.k.a. Dingus. I suppose it's time to explain the whole Dingus phenomenon, so here goes:

A few years ago in Big Band, we had a trombone player who acquired the nickname Dingus. It was bestowed upon him by Jeromy, longtime trumpet player and my former "Assistant Coach" in Combo II. Actually, the guy got mad if anyone except Jeromy called him Dingus, but it caught on like wildfire, so the name stuck anyway. I'm not sure why, exactly, but, as one of the bandmembers last year said, "you just look at the guy and think...Dingus."

So what is a Dingus, exactly? According to urbandictionary.com, a dingus is:
1. n. A stupid person, or a person who is a dork.
2. n. An unknown object.

plural dingii

1. Kevin is such a dingus!

2. So what is that dingus?

(And don't you love that they used my name as an example?)
Another contributor on the same site disagrees with the stupid part:

another word for a spaz.
NOTE: a dingus is NOT a stupid person, because a dingus is someone who can make you laugh by doing stupid THINGS, but they are not stupid people. a stupid person is an idiot. idiot and dingus are different.

(your friend is rocking back and forth on their chair and it topples over, thus flinging them across the room)

you say "dude, you're such a DINGUS"

At any rate, Dingus was in the band for several years, first playing bass trombone (though it was new to him and never quite worked) and later tenor; when he left, Lee came in on bass and brought his buddy Steven on tenor. Since Steven was sitting in Dingus's old chair, the trumpets automatically started calling him Dingus too (technically Dingus 2). A few months later, another Stephen also joined the section and was dubbed Dingus 3.

So the Dingus phenomenon grew and grew, to the point where many people in the band didn't know either of the Dingii's actual names until the concert programs were printed. It reached the heights of nonsense a few weeks ago when Ryan thought Steven's given last name was Dingus.

(Incidentally, there has always been debate on whether Lee is also a Dingus. Though he has exhibited a few moments of "dingosity" here and there, Lee maintains that he's more of a Renegade--a name given to any jazz-improv "padawan" of yours truly. Plus, if you heard Lee's bass bone playing vs. that of the original Dingus, you'd give him a free pass--some "leeway" if you wish--on any bit of dingosity he might ever commit.)

At any rate, it's kind of a fun word to throw around. It's also a cool name for a band, as evidenced by a recent Google search on the word "dingus." Among the ones I found:

Dingus, the punk band from New Jersey:
http://www.njdingus.com/home (I kinda like these guys, actually)

Dingus, the ska band from South Africa:
http://www.dingus.tk/ (Being a ska band, they have a trombone....but not named Steven or Stephen, or even John, like the original Dingus)

Captain Dingus, a band that just recently broke up:
http://captaindingus.cjb.net/

So anyway, seemed like a good time to update the whole Dingus thing since the word appears on this site. And Dingus, your birthday burrito is coming soon.