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Consult Your Personal Textpert
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: 2017/01 - Winter
Portmanteau (from the French words porter, carry; and manteau, mantle) originated in the 1600s. It described a large suitcase/trunk made of stiff leather that opened out into two halves for packing belongings.
Portmanteau’s popularity dwindled during the 20th century, but it’s enjoying a revival. Today, a portmanteau is a kind of word trunk, holding a morpheme or two in each half. Side one + side two = a new morph.
For example, did you enjoy beefalo (beef and buffalo) for lunch? Do you own a labradoodle (Lab and Poodle), peekapoo (Pekingnese and Poodle), or puggle (Pug and Beagle)? Perhaps you follow Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) in the infotainment (information and entertainment) rags. Maybe you carved a Trumpkin (an image of Trump or Hillary) on a Halloween pumpkin.
And speaking of politics, where mantles are ported right and left, Sarah Palin portmanteau’d “refudiate,” a refute and repudiate combo which became Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year. She also used “squirmish” in reference to on-going battles in the Mid-East. The Oxford wasn’t sure if that were a giggle, a gaffe or a Goofe’ (a goof made by a doggish Disney character).
Before I make my own Goofe’, I’ll take my leave for I have some portman-doing of my own. I’ll put on my jeggings (jeans and leggings), grab my chorks (fork and chopstick combo), and chow down on some left-over turducken (turkey, duck and chicken), then chillax (chill and relax) on the pleather (leather and plastic) chammock (chair and hammock). Later I might check out the swapportunities (swap and opportunity) online. Nah, too much sporgery (spam and forgery).
In closing, you know what I really like about portmanteaus? If I make a Goofe’ I can create a portmanteau to cover it. The only problem is, so can all the politicians. Something tells me we’re going to need a textpert to help us sort out the tweets from the twits of twenty-seventeen.
