I'm still recovering from the ACFW Conference that I attended over the weekend, so today I am re-posting an older favorite post from April 2012 - Portmanteau Words.
Enjoy! See you next week!
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In doing some research, I ran across the word: portmanteau. I am familiar with the term, but did some extra reading on it.
According to Wikipedia, the definition of portmanteau (plural portmanteaux or portmanteaus) or portmanteau word is “a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes into one new word. A portmanteau word typically combines both sounds and meanings, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog. More generally, it may refer to any term or phrase that combines two or more meanings. In linguistics, a portmanteau is defined as a single morph which represents two or more morphemes.”
The article went on to talk about the many brand names out there that are a portmanteau word. I guess I didn’t realize there were so many.
Amtrack is the portmanteau of America and track. Comcast is the portmanteau of communication and broadcast, and cinema and maximum is Cinemax. Here are a few more: Verizon is the portmanteau of veritas and horizon. Panera is pan, the Latin word for bread, and era, the Latin word for time. The brand of water softening solution, Calgon, is the portmanteau of the words calcium and gone. That one has been around for a long time!
Of course, there is the name meshing – Brangelina (Brad and Angelina) Tomkat (Tom and Katie) A new fad? Nah, sixty years ago, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball created Desilu Productions. Does that mean Eric and I would be: Erilor or Loric?
There are thousands of these words! Here are a few more familiar portmanteau words:
Texarkana – The area including the Texas/Arkansas border near Louisiana.
Turducken – The dish made by inserting a chicken - into a duck - into a turkey and cooking it. I’ve seen this on one of the food channels. Sounds good! Anyone ever had turducken?
Snart - On the TV show, 30 Rock, Tina Fey coined this one. It’s the combination of two bodily functions. I’ll let you figure that one out.
I love playing with words!
Got any favorite portmanteau words? Invent any?
Would love to hear them!
Between you, me and the gatepost,
Loree
Coming in October - Look for guest posts by Author, Brandi Boddie on Monday, October 7th
and
Author, Wendy Paine Miller on Monday, October 28th.
Coming in October - Look for guest posts by Author, Brandi Boddie on Monday, October 7th
and
Author, Wendy Paine Miller on Monday, October 28th.
6 comments:
I remember this post...it's still great. Awesome word!
it is fun to play with words! We bounce a few portmanteaus around here as a family sometimes, all of which escape me right now. lol
Hope you had a great time at the conference. Have a great week! :)
Playing with words and interesting writing. Can be a good combination. Fun post, Loree...
Victoria: I know how much you love words...
Karen: Playing with words is so much fun. I love the portmanteau words.
The conference was fun. I learned so much in one weekend.
Trout: It's always a good combo!
Vicky, Karen, and Trout, thanks for stopping in. I always love to hear from you.
I like finding interesting words and examining them.
This all started when I worked with a guy, who learned a new word every week. You always knew which one it was because he peppered his speech with it. It drove everyone nuts, but fascinated me.
I love the idea of learning one new word per week, but over using it would drive you crazy. Words are so interesting.
Thanks for dropping in, Susan!
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