"Lisa the Iconoclast" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 18, 1996. In the episode, Springfield's bicentennial approaches, and Lisa writes an essay on town founder Jebediah Springfield. While doing research, she finds a confession revealing that Springfield was a murderous pirate named Hans Sprungfeld who never cared about the people of Springfield. Lisa and Homer decide to get the message out, but instead anger the town council.
The episode was written by Jonathan Collier and directed by Mike B. Anderson. It was Anderson's first directing role. The story was inspired by the 1991 exhumation of President Zachary Taylor. Donald Sutherland guest starred as the voice of Hollis Hurlbut, a part that was written specifically for him. The episode includes several references to Colonial America, including Gilbert Stuart's unfinished 1796 painting of George Washington. The episode features two neologisms: embiggen and cromulent which were intended to sound like real words but play on the fact that they are completely fabricated. Embiggen, coined by Dan Greaney, has seen use in several scientific publications, while cromulent, coined by David X. Cohen, appeared in the Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon.
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