Two for the Price of One
Posted 22 Dec, 2009
A while ago, I seemed to be confronted with portmanteau words – two separate words combining to make a new one, like Lewis Carroll's combination of chuckle and snort to make chortle – and I don't seem to be able to escape them now. Recent discoveries include:
Dreadge (dread and drudge) – a loathsome chore (a family friend talking about her job)
Flexitarian (flexible and vegetarian) – somebody who eats a vegetarian diet once or twice a week (The Observer, 8/11/09)
The very colourful grotrag (grotty and snotrag) – a charming term for a heavily-used handkerchief (overheard on the train home being used – the word, not the grotrag – by a group of college students)
Freegan (free and vegan) – somebody who survives spending no money, reclaiming discarded food and goods (Radio 4 news report about a man who has survived a year without spending a penny, 28/11/09)
Gocycle (go and bicycle) – a £1,200 electric bike (on sale just in time for Christmas)
Kissletoe – no need to explain this one.
And possibly the most evident example of the last few years, the ubiquitous and hugely talented Jedward (John and Edward) – the entertaining (some would say gruesome) twosome from The X Factor
Portmanteau words are nothing new – they've been around as long as we've had language. But I suppose once you become aware of something, you see it everywhere.
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