humongous

アメリカの宝くじ「メガミリオンズ」で当選くじが３枚でました。総額賞金6億4000万ドル（約530億円）は宝くじ史上最高の金額です。当選者がいないと、jackpot（特賞）の賞金が繰り越され、今回は過去2カ月分が積み上がっていました。Reutersの記事にはこのjackpotにhumongousという形容詞が使われました。これはhugeとmonstrous/tremendous があわさってできた言葉です。「超、超大きい、とてつもなく莫大な」という意味です。史上最高額ですからさもありなんです。うらやましいな〜。（UG）

(Reuters) - The largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history - a whopping $656 million - will be shared by the buyers of three winning Mega Millions tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland - but their identities remained a mystery, lottery officials said on Saturday.
A pre-dawn call alerted Denise Metzger, manager of a Motomart convenience store, to news from lottery officials that her store had sold a winning ticket in the tiny farming community of Red Bud in southern Illinois, with less than 4,000 residents, about 30 miles southeast of St. Louis.
"I screamed, I woke my husband up," said Metzger, whose retail outlet will receive $500,000 for selling a winning ticket.
The Mega Millions lottery created a stir across the country, with people rushing to buy the $1 tickets in time for a shot at the humongous jackpot. In all, more than a billion tickets were sold.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/us-lottery-megamillions-idUSBRE82U00W20120401

なお、同じニュースを伝えるCNNですが、あわてていたのか、こーふんしていたのかtypoが残っていました。さてどこでしょうか。これはこのままにしておきます。
Baltimore (CNN) -- A few lucky folks in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas woke up Saturday -- if they slept at all -- to the dawning realization that they will soon be quite rich. Just about everyone else woke up to a less sparkling conclusion -- they weren't winners.
"Oh Mega Millions, why do you shun me?" one Twitter user mused on the social networking site.
"Dear news updates on my phone, stop rubbing it in that I didn't win the mega millions!!!" said another.

Mega Millions winner used Quick Pick Tips for the winners: 'Get a good safe' Who else benefits from lottery sales? Will this app help you win next time? Lottery officials confirmed Saturday that three winners -- in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas -- will split Friday's record $656 million Mega Millions jackpot. That works out to about $218.6 million each. The winning numbers were 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 with a Mega Ball of 23.

Around 7:15 p.m. Friday night, a person came to a 7-Eleven store in Baltimore, Maryland, and paid $1 for a "quick pick" of one line of numbers -- which ended up exactly matching those pulled less than four hours later.
It's not know if the identity of that person will ever be known, as Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino noted that the state does not require its jackpot recipients to do publicity, as some other states do.
Winners can also remain anonymous in Kansas, that state's lottery director Dennis Wilson said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/31/us/mega-millions/index.html?hpt=us_c2