Matt Lauer Asks Snooki: 'What's A Badonk?' (VIDEO)

"Jersey Shore" star Snooki appeared on Tuesday's "Today" show to promote her new book, "A Shore Thing," and Matt Lauer got the opportunity to ask her some of the tough questions people have wanted her to answer.

One such question: did she actually write her book? Snooki said that, though she did use a co-writer, "if you read it, you'll know on the first page that I wrote it...it's all my language."

Lauer then read a passage from the book that included the word "badonk." When he read that word out, someone who sounded like Meredith Vieira could be heard laughing off-camera.

"What's a badonk?" Lauer asked Snooki. "Your butt," she answered, adding, "you know what a badonk is!" Lauer demurely insisted that he had not known the term, though he knew that Vieira used it frequently.

The two also delved into some other slang terms, including one that Lauer approached with trepidation: "wenis."

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Comments

[Bystander]

09:17 AM on 01/18/2011

How do you interview a box of rocks?

[1jdgriff]

08:00 PM on 01/17/2011

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

[ccaa6732]

02:06 PM on 01/17/2011

More proof our country is going down the tubes. The fact this "thing" makes more money in a month than hard working college educated people do in a year it just is sickening. This country needs a serious wakeup call.

[mjl422]

11:19 AM on 01/18/2011

The sad reality is that we live in a society that values "entertainment" over education. I'm willing to bet that Dr. Ben Carson doesn't make anywhere near $24 million/year but, Kobe Bryant does (not including endorsements).

[EspritDeVoltaire]

01:13 PM on 01/17/2011

Yes Matt, you can't ask a serious question of a politician but you can embarrass a reality show trollop. Wow!

[floridafun]

07:41 AM on 01/18/2011

that was my first thought too! f&f

[GerryS]

11:37 AM on 01/17/2011

Matt, don't push snookie under the bus,

jack the bus up and tie her under it. use bailing wire, lots of it---------------------------

[Dr Confuso]

11:08 AM on 01/17/2011

Matt & Snooki....now THERE's a potential morning show line-up to end all line-ups. They could be the new George Burns and Gracie Allen.

[floridafun]

07:43 AM on 01/18/2011

wellll there is the difference that gracie obviously played an exaggerated dumb..and it comes natural for snooki ;-)

[R.W. Sanders]

05:34 AM on 01/17/2011

For a moment, the production tags for the pictures below and above the headlines were visible. These are to guide the person making the site, where to place the pictures. They get covered up by the pix. The tag line for the picture on this article said - Mattlauersnooki - translation, Matt lauer's snooki. But if you read it the way Sean Connery, on the Saturday Night Live version of Jeopardy, would read it, it says - Matt lauer's nooki - reminds me of when he read - my pen is leaking. It is getting late and I am getting loony.

[fredvh]

10:30 AM on 01/16/2011

I worry for the future of this country after watching 10 minutes of her show

[fredvh]

10:29 AM on 01/16/2011

Matt should just be embarassed about interviewing her, not because of 1 question.

[Chicagofan1]

08:26 AM on 01/16/2011

Midlife crisis, Matt?

[Ascoli]

06:39 AM on 01/16/2011

Matt Lauer himself......is an embarrassment.

[bholl7510]

10:08 PM on 01/15/2011

I never really thought I'd be defending Snooki..but come on! Everyone gets so smug and condescending at the mere mention of her name.

While I'm not sure I would want to hang out with her in person for more than five minutes (hypocrite I know), you have to admit that she is at the very least true to herself and a committed friend. If you watch the show--rather than just comment on what you hear is on the show--you realize that the cast are very loyal to their inner circle of friends and family and are more complex than the caricatures MTV (and the rest of the media) try to promote.

Sure they like to drink, tan, and work out...so what? Are you really much better when you sit at a computer screen and write catty messages about someone you've never met? (*steps off soap box*)

[studioh!]

02:55 PM on 01/15/2011

this photo makes her look sort of normal, and matt looks slightly fey.

[Christi-Kiki Neal]

11:30 AM on 01/15/2011

I have never seen Jersey Shore (I would rather spend that time gnawing on the toenails of mud-covered monkeys than watch that) but I did see this Today Show interview. I had no idea she was such a chunk! She looks like a giant, fuzzy olive on two toothpicks. The fact that she is evidently lacking even mediocre intelligence makes her even more ridiculous.

[laaambchop]

07:06 PM on 01/15/2011

but, she's famous...and that's what matter in the US...

[laaambchop]

07:07 PM on 01/15/2011

*s

[bogey1]

10:07 AM on 01/15/2011

NBC really needs to start using better computer servers for their online content - commercials always come thru quickly but content doesn't

I guess the file server reserved for commercials is much faster than just the content

i had to go to youtube to watch this

hey NBC wake, the 'f' up !