Saturday, July 30, 2005

Portmanteaus


I sometimes create words as I need them. Grampo (grammar + typo) is one I coined. I also claim responsibility for "flying lane change" (flying lead change + lane), to refer to the act of changing lanes mid-intersection (those who are equestrians will understand this one), and "synagoggling" (synagogue +goggling), to propose what a Jewish friend should do in his search for a nice, Jewish girl. All are portmanteaus.

portmanteau
noun
A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words, as chortle, from chuckle and snort, or smog, from smoke and fog.
"portmanteau." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 07 Nov. 2005. http://www.answers.com/topic/portmanteau-new-word

Some Portmanteaus with which most are familiar
alphabet
Spanglish
fantabulous
brunch
gaydar
infomercial
meld
motel
moped

Some Portmanteaus that may be unfamiliar
bacne (back acne)
bootylicious (booty +delicious)
Chunnel (Channel tunnel)
dramedy (dramatic comedy)
spork (combination spoon fork)
ginormous (gigantic + enormous)
Texican (self-explanatory)
mimbo (male bimbo)