Not that we want to confusticate you or anything, but why not guesstimate how many portmanteaus linger in our lexicon?
We don’t know the exact number, but it is sure to be ginormous. Portmanteaus are a blend of two or more words to make a new one.
Perhaps you’ve come across a few in your day: motel, from motor and hotel; smog, from smoke and fog; or Napoleon Dynamite’s favorite animal, the liger–a lion-tiger cross breed. These words spread through our language like rumors through Hollywood.
We’re watching podcasts on our iPods and putting gaydar to the test when eyeing that metrosexual guy in mandals while walking our labradoodle.
Portmanteau sounds like a fancy word for luggage or footwear, but it’s a French term (adopted by the English language, which makes it Franglish) for the linguistic hybrid of two words.
The word portmanteau is a portmanteau itself, combining the French words porter, to carry, with manteau, or cloak. We’re noticing them more lately because they’re constantly forming as parts of text messages, incessant e-mails and fast talk.
“We’re very hip-hop. We’re into trends and quick things and what’s new, and even words have a fad to them,” said Jill Spiegel, a Minneapolis-based pop culture expert. “Being quick to join words is part of what’s hip, what’s cool, what’s new. That’s how we talk now.”
So instead of chillaxing, we’re busy blending and morphing, or blorphing, the English language. Though it’s hard to say exactly how many words are in the English language, some Web sites suggest it could be at least 1 million, making it the most expansive of all languages.
Portmanteaus started with William Shakespeare, says Anne Sheehan, professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in Albany. The Bard of Avon came up with words like trauaild, a combination of traveled and travailed, found in Sonnet 63.
This word styling wasn’t given a name till Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice In Wonderland,” came along. Alice gets a lesson on Jabberwocky from Humpty Dumpty, being told “Well, slithy means lithe and slimy. … You see it’s like a portmanteau, there are two meanings packed up into one word.”
Carroll often works portmanteaus into his writing for humorous effect. Other portmanteaus are so common, we don’t think of them as such, like chortle, the chuckling snort, and brunch, the combination of breakfast and lunch.
Speaking of brunch, words describing foods often become portmanteaus. Tofurkey or turducken, anyone? Maybe with a side of broccoflower–which you could eat with a spork–and top it off with a mocktail.
“Portmanteau is an expression of our need to label or describe new things in order to explain or understand them,” Spiegel said. “It’s a way to identify things quickly. Everything in society has sped up in the last 10 to 20 years, and this is to keep up with a society that’s also speeding up.”
She points to those “dramatic comedies” that have become dramedies or infotainment–a joining of infomercials (also a portmanteau) and entertainment. Portmanteaus continue entering our verbiage faster than you can say frappaccino. Ridonkulous?
Maybe. Some might call this creative addition of words to the language fantabulous.
Test yourself
Think you’ve got the hang of portmanteaus now? See if you can guess what words these combinations make up. [ALBANY TIMES UNION].
1. slider + curve
2. crazy + drunk
3. back + acne
4. frozen + yogurt
5. just + mustache
6. jock + nerd
7. street + basketball
8. bad + wrong
9. dance + exercise
10. sacrilege + delicious
ANSWERS: 1. SLURVE 2. CRUNK 3. BACNE 4. FROGURT 5. JUSTACHE 6. JERD 7. STREETBALL 8. BADONG 9. DANCERCISE 10. SACRILICIOUS
