Thursday, July 08, 2010

Blending/Portmanteau Words

There are several and nearly fixed ways, which give new words a chance to live along with old ones in every language. One of these ways is "blending". In blending, two or more function words blend to form a new word. The new word, thus, is called a portmanteau.

I have chosen this topic intentionally because I want to share some new and somehow odd blending examples with you. If you try to memorize them, you can add some new pieces of information to your wordrobe. What does "wordrobe" mean? It means a person's vocabulary [blend of word and wardrobe].

My next example is "fantabulous" [Blend of fantastic and fabulous]. The idea of creating and developing podcats was fantabulous.

To me, "carjacking" is as dangerous as hijacking. "Carjacking" is a noun describing an incident by which a usually armed individual coerces the driver of an automobile to give up his vehicle or drive it and the assailant to some specified location.

I hate "baggravation". I do not want to feel it my life. Never ever. Baggravation [Blend of bag and aggravation] is a feeling of annoyance and anger one endures at the airport when his/her bags have not arrived at the baggage carousel but everyone else's bags have.

When something is extremely large, it is "ginormous". This word is the blend form of gigantic and enormous.

Remember when you hear an accident occur and later give a report on what you heard; you are an "earwitness" not an eyewitness.

Finally, I like to add that portmanteaux or portmanteaus are the plural forms of portmanteau.

18 comments:

M.Amin said...

WoooOOOOoooW,this post is definitely one of those instructive and (let me think,ummm,yeah) fresh kinda articles released on your blog!
God bless ya...
and keep up the good work

Zahra said...

Thanks a ton. Very nice of you to say that.

mehdi said...

Hi dear
I remember fine speech from "seneca"
We tie knots and bind up words in double meanings and then try to untie them.
however. all words are pegs to hang ideas on.
goooooooooooooooooooooood.

M.Amin said...

نام احمد نام جمله انبیاست / چون که صد آمد نود هم پیش ماست

از مناره پنج نوبت پر خروش / نام احمد با علی آید به گوش

روز و شب گویم به آوای جلی / اکفیانی یا محمد یا علی

بعثت رسول عشق و مهربانی مبارک . . .

Gladiator Totti said...

Hello my good friend
Happy to meet you again
--------
Do you have a good educational web
And seems you are a professor in the English language.......
--------
Ciao

Translator said...

Oh another linguistic matter
something that I remember clearly from my studtying period at the university...
tnx

Zahra said...

Oh yeah. That is a really neat linguistic issue to discuss and learn new words, in my book.

Gladiator Totti said...

Hello Master
Your opinion:

English language harder is Italian language؟
Because I do not speak English well!!!
I want to know how long can the English language well learned?
----------
Ciao

Anonymous said...

this post was amazing, i got surprised to read it ,

just keep going

hamlet

M.Amin said...

hi,
new up on verbs often confused.
cheerio (oh no,that's britishhhhh!)
I prefer to say: see ya!

Gladiator Totti said...

Thank you so much
Good tips.
I thought the English language should be more difficult.
But you have to change my view.
Italian is too sweet.
I hope English will also be.
Sorry but I do not speak good English too.
I know very little compared to you
I'm still an amateur
-----------

Thanks again
Ciao

Gladiator Totti said...

Hi
Italy language? I know about!
Of course, not the size that you are familiar with the English language
I have to learn the English language
Because the situation requires
So that the force was to learn Italian!
I always have to be looking for a new language!
--------------
Ciao

Gladiator Totti said...

Grazie mille!!!!

I have my best wishes to you
Good luck
--------
Ciao

mehdi said...

Hi dear
“And of God's signs are the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Lo! Herein indeed are portents for men of knowledge."The Holy Quran”
Beautiful header
The Holy Qur'an is our celestial Book and the eternal miracle of our Holy Prophet. This Divine Book was revealed to the Holy Prophet over a period of 23 years. The Holy Qur'an is a Book intended for the guidance of man. It may be called the Book of man
A man who has been created by Allah and for whose guidance and salvation the Prophets came and taught him how to know himself. It is also the Book of Allah, for man is the being whose creation began prior to the creation of this world and will end after the end of this world
From the viewpoint of the Holy Qur'an man is the breath of Divine spirit. He has to return to Allah. Man cannot know his Allah correctly unless he knows himself.
The man described by science exists only between the two points of his birth and his death. Darkness surrounds all that is before and after these two points, science has no knowledge of it. But the man of the Holy Qur'an is not so limited. He has come from another world and his future lies in that world. In this world he has to perfect himself. His future in the next world depends on the nature of his activity in this world and on the fact whether he makes right type of effort or not. Further, ordinary human beings do not know man even between the points of his birth and death as well as the Prophets does.
The man of the Holy Qur'an must know. From where has he come? Where is he going? Where is he at present? How should he be? What should he do?

MoSlEm said...

hi dear friend
you have a nice weblog,i like it honestly
i link your weblog then link my weblog with this name"English-World"
thanks

Ghasem said...

Hi Maryam,
your new template is beautiful,
and also your welcome note..
its an interesting post.other egs. are:
simultaneous + broadcast →simulcast smoke + fog → smog
spoon + fork → spork
...
good luck.
Ghasem.

ZAHRA said...

Hello,

Thanks for your comment. I am Zahra not Maryam, by the way.

Ghasem said...

oops,you are right.
excuse me,
Zahra..
good luck..
:)