Can You Portmanteau?
I just lately learn an article during which the phrase satisficing was used. The phrase intrigued me. In response to the writer, satisficing is a mixture of sufficing and satisfying.
This led me to research if there have been different phrases that had been made by combining the sounds and meanings of two current phrases. I discovered that such a composite phrase known as a portmanteau. I additionally found that there are lots of portmanteaus that we use every day, steadily with out realizing that is what they’re.
A portmanteau is usually outlined as a big trunk or suitcase that opens into two equal elements. Nonetheless, Lewis Carroll gave it a brand new that means in his e book, By means of the Wanting Glass, when he had Humpty Dumpty say: “Effectively, ‘slithy’ means “lithe and slimy” and ‘mimsy’ is “flimsy and depressing”. You see it is like a portmanteau-there are two meanings packed up into one phrase.”
Some portmanteau phrases are very acquainted and simple to deconstruct:
Backronym: again + acronym
Breathalyzer: breath + analyzer
Brexit: Britain + exit
Camcorder: digicam + recorder
Caplet: capsule + pill
Glamping: glamorous + tenting
Infomercial: data + industrial
Infotainment: data + leisure
Inscape: inside + panorama
Web: worldwide + community
Malware: malicious + software program
Manscaping: man + landscaping
Meld: soften + weld
Motel: motor + lodge
Bike: motorized + bicycle
Netflix: web + flicks
Palimony: companion + alimony
Pluot: plum + apricot
Simulcast: simultaneous + broadcast
Sitcom: situational + comedy
Tween: teen + between
Wikipedia: wiki + encyclopedia
Some portmanteau phrases are unfamiliar, however they’re nonetheless comparatively simple to deconstruct:
Affluenza: prosperous + influenza
Anticipointment: anticipation + disappointment
Prequiem: preemptive + requiem
Screenager: display + teenager
Some phrases are very acquainted, however their contributing phrases could also be surprising- at the very least, they shocked me. For instance, I by no means knew that the phrase weblog consists of net and log.
Bit: binary + digit
Chortle: chuckle + snort
Cyborg: cybernetics + organism
Endorphin: endogenous + morphine
Fortnight: fourteen + nights
Gainsay: towards + say
Garmin: Garry Burrell + Min Kao
Gerrymander: Gerry + salamander
Goodbye: God + be (with) + ye
Groupon: group + coupon
Problem: haggle + tussle
Humongous: enormous + monstrous
Ineptitude: inept + angle
Microsoft: microcomputer + software program
Modem: modulation + demodulation
Muppet: marionette + puppet
Pixel: image + aspect
Prissy: prim + sissy
Skype: sky + peer-to-peer
Smog: smoke + fog
Taxicab: taximeter + cabriolet
Travelogue: journey + monologue
Vitamin: vita + amine
WiFi: wi-fi + constancy
There have been some phrases I’ve by no means seen earlier than. For instance, I reside in Wisconsin, the place we get numerous snow and ice, and I’ve by no means heard this phrase utilized in any climate forecast, snice: snow and ice.
Ambigram: ambiguous + gram
Automagically: computerized + magically
Flexitarian: vegetarian + versatile
Mizzle: mist + drizzle
Sporgery: spam + forgery
Stagflation: stagnation + inflation
And a few phrases appear to be malapropisms after we hear them for the primary time, however they’re truly actual phrases; for instance, refudiate: repudiate + refute.
It actually makes me surprise who initially coined these phrases, why they felt the necessity to create them, and the way they had been so darn intelligent!
Can You Portmanteau?
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