Today's Word Trivia

From my daily calendar...

Lewis Carroll introduced the notion of pormanteau words in Through the Looking-Glass where Humpty Dumpty says to Alice:
'Well, "slithy" means "lithe and slimy". "Lithe" is the same as "active". You see it's like a portmanteau--there are two meanings packed up into one word.'

**Ten Prairie Box points to anyone who contributes a few portmanteau words in the comments section.

Posted by Rebecca Tredway on Feb 5, 2008

Comments on Today's Word Trivia

Keytar
Murse
Spork

Posted by: Bethany on February 5, 2008 11:30 AM

Smog (smoke & fog)

Posted by: RT on February 5, 2008 02:40 PM

Taco Bell commercials:
cruncheweezy
(crunchy, chewy, cheesy)

Posted by: Kristin on February 5, 2008 03:01 PM

brunch
fohawk (forward & mo-hawk)
moped (motorcycle & pedal)
muck (mud & ick)

Posted by: jared on February 5, 2008 03:43 PM

opps. moped is "motor & pedal"

cyborg

what can i buy with Ten Prairie Box points?

Posted by: jared on February 5, 2008 03:47 PM

"fohawk (forward & mo-hawk)"

I think it's actually "fauxhawk" as in a faux (imitation) mohawk.

Posted by: Bethany on February 5, 2008 04:09 PM

Chrismakwanzahannukah?

Nah, there are tons of decent portmanteaus. I think muppet, chortle, and emoticon are my favorites.

I looked it up and Wikipedia seems to indicate the plural of portmanteau is portmantaux. Is that right?

Posted by: adam on February 6, 2008 08:01 AM

Bethany: thanks for the correction. i guess im more of an imitator than forward.

How about: Billary
goes well with TomKat.

and would "awful" be considered a portmantaux? awe+full

cankle
evite
blog
guesstimate
motel
quillow!!!

Posted by: jared on February 6, 2008 09:34 AM

Prairie Box points are less about buying and more about love... being shared through the internet... smiles, goodwill, that sort of thing. ; )

Adam, I think you're right. It's either portmantaux or portmanteux.

I had more words to share from my daily calendar but my 3 year old is filing them in the O'Donnells' old filing cabinet right now. Stay tuned.

Posted by: RT on February 6, 2008 10:16 AM

Portmanteau originates from French:
porte (carry)
manteau (coat)
Portemanteau is a coat tree
I'm not sure how they came up with portmanteau (no "e"), but what i do know is that the plural would definitely be portmanteaux.

Posted by: Kristin on February 6, 2008 03:46 PM

Thanks, Kris, my very favorite French teacher! I thought you'd know the origins of this word.

Posted by: RT on February 6, 2008 04:25 PM

Thought of another, which is now making me hungry: banoffee

Posted by: Bethany on February 7, 2008 09:52 AM

Banana + coffee?

Posted by: RT on February 7, 2008 12:29 PM

Oooh I could go for some banoffee pie right about now.

It's actually banana+toffee, Rebecca. It's a British dessert.

Posted by: Lindsey on February 7, 2008 12:51 PM

My wife is an expert at creating these! She has introduced me to new words like:

Gription: Grip + traction (or friction)

Slogo: When a company's Slogan is in their Logo

Pronounciate: Pronounce + Enunciate

Bonus word: Nemes (Pronounced Nem-Iss). When someone is not quite bad enough to be considered a Nemesis.

It was always a good time proof reading her grad school papers! I never knew what I would come across.

Posted by: Matt on February 11, 2008 02:53 PM

Correction! I have been reading In America by Susan Sontag. Coincidentally, the word portmanteaus (the anglified plural version of the word) was used to describe what the speaker was seeing being loaded onto an ocean liner along with suitcases. Apparently, the English version of the word is something of a suitor or suitcase designed to hold longer items? I'm just guessing from its context in the book. The book takes place in the late 1800's.

Posted by: Kristin on February 11, 2008 04:48 PM