Portmanteau Words

Call me old-fashioned, but I find myself bewildered by the array of neologisms used by the media these days. It seems I can't watch television, pick up a newspaper or browse online without stumbling across another new 'word-blend'. I heard on the radio that, 'restaurants are feeling the pinch as more and more people are homedulging.' Why not simply say 'eating in'?, I wonder.

Combination or 'portmanteau' words such as smog, brunch and motel have stood the test of time, but how will words like bromance, netiquette, dataveillance and infotainment fare? And what would Lewis Carroll have made of it all, for it was he who invented the term 'portmanteau word'? He coined the words chortle (chuckle and snort), slithy (slimy and lithe) and mimsy (miserable and flimsy).

Perhaps he would have approved of some of the more whimsical suggestions I came across recently: aeroma – the odour produced after an aerobics class; caterpallor – the colour you turn after finding half a maggot in your apple; gelmet – a head of hair that resembles a protective hat through overuse of styling products.