Affluent means having an abundance of wealth, property, or other material goods; rich.

Influenza is a pathological term designating an acute, commonly epidemic disease characterized by respiratory symptoms and general prostration.

Affluenza is a term designating extremely unfriendly, unpleasant, or antisocial behavior so extreme it's tatamount to a personality disorder or emotional disease similar in some ways to flu.

Affluenza is a behavior style most often instilled in a personality in a formative period of life by an extreme over-affluenent upbringing. A more common term for a youth suffering from affluenza is "spoiled brat."

The term "affluenza" is a metaphorical or figurative term for a kind of negative emotional behavior that's meant to replace other, more scientifically accepted terms for this kind of behavior.

Affluenza is not formally recognized as a disease in the field of psychology and the term is rarely used by psychologists, but it's sometimes applied to subtly (and perhaps incorrectly) suggest that, as with influenza, a victim can be afflicted with this behavior through no fault of his own and can be cured of it in later life.

In an episode of the TV show Cheers' seventh season, Woody starts to date a rich girl who has no idea how the rest of us live. As she enters Cheers to talk to Woody Boyd, Cliff Clavin tries to get her to try one of his latest creations made from his invention of a beet-rutabaga hybrid.

Cliff says to her, Beetabaga fajita on a pita? to which she responds, No hablo Ingles, Senor. Remember?

In another episode, Cliff enters Cheers sporting a beetabaga he grew in his garden that resembles Richard Nixon. Remember?

What is a beetabaga? It's Cliff's invention of a new hybrid vegetable that blends a beet with a rutabaga. Hence, its name, which he coined: beetabaga.

Too bad there's no such thing as smellovision or tasteovision. If there were, we could have smelled and tasted one. Sadly, it's too late now.

A motion picture based on the life of a real person.

No doubt you have run across the portmanteau word brunch, the meal that serves as both breakfast and lunch. You may even enjoy an occasional brunch, And you are probably aware that brunch is a portmanteau word formed by blending the two words that denote the two meals, breakfast and lunch.

But what about a meal that serves as breakfast, lunch, and dinner? The Muse Of Language Arts calls that kind of a meal bluncher. By the same token, The Muse calls a meal that serves as both lunch and dinner dinch or lupper and a portmanteau word for a meal that serves as both breakfast and dinner bunner.

If you have another portmanteau word for any of these meal combinations, let The Muse know about it.

A derogatory name for an immigrant from Eastern or Central Europe.

Town in Baja, California.

Language with elements of both Chinese and English.

An eating utensil that is a cross between a fork and a chopstick.

A street fundraiser who collects donations on behalf of a charity. They may be a paid employee or a volunteer.

A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal.

See modem.

A bakery item consisting of half croissant dough, half bagel dough blended together and twisted into a bagel's shape and size and with a bagel-style hole in the middle. Unlike a bagel, which is first boiled in water, then baked, the cragel is just baked, leaving it with a sweeter and more buttery flavor and a lighter and flakier dough. Claimed to be invented by a New York City bakery called the Bagel Store.

See also: crogel; cronut.

A bakery item made soley from croissant dough formed into the size and shape of a bagel. The raw dough is kettle-boiled and then hearth-baked like a doughnut, but unlike a doughnut it becomes crispy on the outside and buttery and flaky on the inside. Claimed to be invented at the Stew Leonard grocery store in New York City.

See also: cragel; cronut.

In case you're not a sci-fi fan or a scientist, a cyborg is a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device.

The word "cybernetics" was coined by Norbert Weiner at MIT. It came into use in the 1960s when the developing new science of human control functions was being amalgamated with the fields of mechanical and electronic system engineering and communication.

Don't confuse cyborgs with robots. Cyborgs are humans; robots are machines.

An ambiguity is something that is unclear, indefinite, or equivocal, such as a word, expression, meaning, and the like. That which is ambiguous is open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations; of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend, distinguish, or classify; lacking clearness or definiteness; obscure; indistinct.

A dambiguity is something that is so ambiguous it is cursed because it causes damnable misunderstanding and confusion. A damnable ambiguity is a dambiguity.

Dormobile, is a portmanteau word blending dormintory and automobile.

The word was coined by the makers of the Bedford Dormobile, a 1960s-era campervan.

An airplane's control surface functioning both as an elevator and as an aileron.

Something is ethnic if it pertains to or is characteristic of people with a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like, or to their origin or classification.

Something is a dinosaur if it is anachronistically outmoded or unable to adapt to change.

An ethnisaur is a person or group that is outdated because it espouses ideas, utters untruthful, unflatttering, or disparaging remarks, or casts outmoded inuendos about the ethnicity of others.

Ethnisaurs do these things because they can't adapt to change. And because they can't adapt, they're heading for extinction.

Fantastic, fabulous, excellent.

An airplane's control surface functioning both as a flap and as an aileron.

An actual enemy who pretends to be a friend. A true friend who also is a rival. Applies to personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships among individuals, groups, or institutions.

Frienemey is not only a portmanteau word, it's an oxymoron as well!

The artificial offspring of a goat and a sheep.

A geep is a sheep-goat chimera produced by combining the embryos of a goat and a sheep. The resulting animal has cells of both sheep and goat origin. A geep should not be confused with a sheep-goat hybrid, which can result when a goat mates with a sheep.

Extraordiarily large in size, extent, amount, power, or degree. This term originated in the 1940s as American WWII military slang.

See also: humongous

An estimate arrived at by guesswork. To estimate without substantial basis in facts or statistics.

Hollywood: The NW part of Los Angeles, California, center of the American motion-picture industry.

Bollywood: The informal name for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (formerly Bombay). The Bo in Bombay rhymes with the Ho in Hollywood.

Bollywood is only a part of the total Indian film industry, but it's the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world. The name was inspired by Tollywood.

Tollywood: The name used starting in 1932 to refer to the cinema of West Bengal. It refers to the Bengali film industry based in Tollygunge, part of which rhymes with Hollywood, and was the center of the cinema of India at the time. It's the earliest Hollywood-inspired name in the Indian film industry.

The name Bollywood arose as the Bombay-based film industry overtook the one in Tollygunge as the center of the Indian film industry.

Extraordinarily large, huge, great or immense. Also, shocking, outrageous, frightful or hideous in appearance; ugly or revolting; deviating grotesquely from natural or normal form. This term originated between 1965 and 1970 as American slang.

See also: ginormous

In radio and television, an infomercial is a long commercial that informs or instructs, especially in an original and entertaining manner. Also, informercial.

First used by Stephen Colbert on the September 27, 2010 telecast of his show, The Colbert Report. Colbert felt obliged to coin a portmanteau word because he was so furious and indignant, both at the same time.

Will infurgenant catch on and change its status to an Authentic portmanteau word? Only time will tell.

An innuendo is an indirect intimation about a person or thing, especially of a disparaging or a derogatory nature. An insuendo is an innuendo that makes the accused person feel insecure.

Insuendo is a portmanteau word. It is a blend of the words insecure and innudendo.

Of course, there is no such word as insudendo; it is a made up fraud.

A computer program designed to have undesirable or harmful effects.

Medicare is a U.S. government program of hospitalization insurance and voluntary medical insurance for persons aged 65 and over and for certain disabled persons under 65. Medicaid  is a U.S. government program, financed by federal, state, and local funds, of hospitalization and medical insurance for persons of all ages within certain income limits.

Medicare is a portmanteau word that blends medical and care. Medicaid is a portmanteau word that blends medical and aid.

A modem is an electronic device that enables the transmission of data between a computer and a telephone line. To send data, it modulates (converts) computer data bits to tones (sound) that a telephone line can accept. To receive data, it demondulates (converts) telephone tones to data bits that a computer can accept.

See codec.

A hotel for people and their vehicles. An establishment that provides lodging for motorists in rooms usually having direct access to an open parking area. Also called motor court or motor lodge.

A puppet created by Jim Henson. The word "Muppet" itself was said by Henson to have been created by combining the words "Marionette" and "puppet". However, Henson was also known to have stated that it was just something he liked the sound of, and he made up the "marionette/puppet" story while talking to a journalist because it sounded plausible.

A nickelodeon is an early motion-picture theater where a film or a variety show could be seen, usually for the admission price of a nickel. It is also an early jukebox that was operated by inserting nickels. Nickelodeon is a portmanteau word formed from a blend of the words nickel and melodeon.

A melodeon is a small reed organ or a kind of accordion. The word melodeon, which is formed from blending the words melody and accordion, is also a portmanteau word.

A mixture of salt and pepper in a single dispenser for shaking on food.

The use of genetic engineering to alter an animal or plant in order to make it produce a pharmaceutical or similar product.

The smallest piece or unit of visual information in a computer display or other kind of digital display system. A dot.

The word is a blend of the words picture and element. A pixel is a picture element.

From the field of astrophysics and astronomy, one of several hundred known celestial objects believed to be rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit pulses of radiation, especially radio waves (gamma rays), with a high degree of regularity.

Pulsar is a portmanteau word combining pulsating and star.

In the field of astrophysics and astronomy, one of over a thousand known extragalactic objects, starlike in appearance and having spectra with characteristically large redshifts, that are thought to be the most distant and most luminous objects in the universe. Also called quasi-stellar object.

Quasar is a portmanteau blend of the words quasi- and stellar in the term quasi-stellar radio source.

When quasars were discovered in the 1950s, speculation held them to be star-like sources of powerful radio waves, and the term stellar was blended with the term radio source in the portmanteau word that names them.

Today it's understood that a quasar is not a single object like a star; it's a compact, highly luminous region (an accretion disk) at the center of a very old, very distant massive galaxy that surrounds a supermassive black hole at its center.

A ruckus is a noisy commotion, a fracas, a rumpus, a heated contoversy.

A rumpus is a noisy or violent disturbance, a commotion, an uproar. A ruction is a distrubance, quarrel, or row. Without ruction, a ruckus would merely be a noisy commotion; with ruction, it's a noisy quarrel or row.

A designer hybrid between a poodle and a schnauzer.

Scotch means to put a definite end to; crush; stamp out; foil, as in scotch a rumor; scotch a plan.

The word dates from the 14th century, so its origin is obscure. Perhaps scotch is a blend of of score and notch. Experts are not sure. In any case, this sense of scotch is not related to the Scotch race, nor is it related to the beverage of the same name.

People who are docile, foolish, or easily led. People or institutions that voluntarily acquiesce to a suggestion without critical analysis or research. Those who readily conform.

A program or event that is broadcast across more than one medium or service at the same time.

From city planning. A shabby, ill-planned suburban area.

Smog=smoke+fog. Smaze=smog+haze=smoke+fog+haze.

Smaze is a triple portmanteau word!

Snarf has five meanings: 1) To eat or consume greedily, 2) To take something by dubious means but without stealing, 3) To take something in contradiction to the rules of etiquette, 4) To accidentally expel fluids or solids through the mouth or nostrils with one's mouth full, usually while stifling laughter, 5) To slurp.

Scarf, which is slang, means to eat, especially voraciously, often followed by down or up, as in to scarf down junk food.

Snarf is a comparitively new word but is quickly becoming accepted. It is still considered slang.

A method for detecting and locating objects submerged in water by echolocation. Also, the apparatus used in sonar. In Britain, called asdic, an acronym which stands for anti-submarine detection investigation committee.

Spam is a canned food product consisting of a mixture of chopped pork shoulder and ham formed into a solid block. Spam is also the name of a kind of disruptive and unwanted email messages posted on computer networks.

The word spam, which is trademarked by Hormel, is a portmanteau word that stands for spiced ham. It's a contraction of spiced and ham.

In its other sense, spam is unsolicited commercial electronic messages in the form of e-mail, blogs, social networking sites, newsgroups, and cellular telephones.

Hormel's Spam and electronic spam are closely related. Hormel's Spam product was the inspiration for applying the name Spam to electronic messages. In what way does does the word Spam apply to spam? Hormel's Spam applies to spam electronic messages because the repeated electronic mass mailings evoke the same disgust and jaded boredom in many email recipients that repeated servings of the food product evoke in Spam eaters.

• Explore Spam, the food product, at Wikipedia's page on Spam (food): click here.
• Explore spam, the electronic messages, at the Wikipedia page on Spam (electronic): click here.
• Explore Spam, the Monty Python comedy sketch, at the Wikipedia page on Spam (Monty Python): click here.
• See the original Monty Python Spam skit on YouTube: click here.
• Explore Spam musubi, the Hawaiian dish made from salted rice with a slice of Spam. Visit the Wikipedia page called Spam musubi: click here.
• Visit the Hormel Spam web site: click here.
• Explore Spam in many of its dreaded and beloved aspects. Visit the SPAM web site: click here.

In particle physics, a sparticle (also called a superpartner) is a class of proposed elementary atomic particles hypothesized by a theory and a branch of physics called Supersymmetry. The existence of sparticles has not been proven at the time of this writing.

Some scientists consider the word sparticle to be a blend of the words supersymmetric, partner, and particle. Others consider it to be a blend of the words super, partner, and particle.

According to the theory, there may exist a family or class of still-unobserved fundamental atomic particles. Most of these particles are named with portmanteau words to suggest the idea that every "ordinary" atomic particle has a companion supersymmetric particle, just as every component word in a portmanteau word has a partner. Thus, the theoretical model consists of sparticles with names like slepton (lepton), squark (quark), and photino (photon)

Splutter means to talk rapidly and somewhat incoherently, as when confused, excited, or embarrassed; to utter hastily and confusedly or incoherently; to sputter. To splutter is to make a sputtering sound; to make confused or rapid talk; noise or fuss.

Splutter also means to emit particles of something explosively, as water dropped onto a hot griddle; to fly or fall in particles or drops; to spatter, as a liquid, or to bespatter someone or something.

Splutter is an old word dating from the decade between 1670 and 1680. It is a blend of splash and sputter.

The squiddle class is the British middle class social group that finds itself in need of belt-tightening during harsh economic times.

Applies to politics and to the so-called middle or working classes. May apply particularly to employees in the public sector. May also apply to U.S. civil servants.

A citrus fruit that is a cross between a tangerine and a pomelo or a grapefruit.

Teeny, which m tiny, is a blend of the words tiny and wee. When tiny isn't small enough, the blend with wee emphasizes the idea of tiny.

A television or radio event (usually over an extended period) that asks people to donate money by phone.

A character printer connected to a telegraph that operates like a typewriter.

tigon, liger

A tigon is the hybrid offspring of a male tiger and a female lion. A liger is the hybrid offspring of a male lion and a female tiger.

The word tigon is a blend of the words tiger and lion, with the male tiger's name in the lead. The word liger is also a blend of the words tiger and lion, but with male lion's name in the lead.

Electronic gear that both transmits and receives radio broadcasts.

A coupe (AKA coupé) is a closed, two-door full length car somewhat shorter than a comparable typical full length four-door sedan of matching design.

A trupe is a full length vehicle designed as a two-door coupe in its front half with a half-length pick-up truck bed attached in the rear. Together the front and rear halves form a normal sized car with a single, streamlined shape.

A few examples of mass-produced trupes: Ford Ranchero, Chevrolet El Camino, GMC Cabalero, Plymouth Scamp, Dodge Rampage, VW Rabbit Sport-Truck, and Subaru Brat.

By comparison, the Subaru Baja is typical of a slightly different kind of trupe whose front half is longer than a coupe and which may contain two or four doors up front. It resembles a comparable two-or-four-door sedan in front that is equipped with a streamlined truck bed in the rear. It also takes the name trupe even though it's front half is usually longer than that of a coupe.

A youthful person considered too old to be a child and too young to be a teenager; one who is neither a young child nor an adolescent. Typically a youth whose age falls in the range of 8 to 12 years old or a similar age bracket.

Also: tween; tweeny.

A cyclone or similar weather phenomenon.

The name of a DC Comics supervillain possessing the force of a hurricane and the speed of a whirlwind. His motto: Nothing can stop a Whirlicane.

A zillionaire is an informal term for a person of incalculably great wealth. The word is a blend of the word zillion, which denotes an extremely large but indeterminate number, and millionaire. A millionaire, of course, is someone whose wealth amounts to a million or more in some unit of currency, such as dollars.

A zillion may be an indeterminate number, but of one thing we can be sure. Whatever a zillionaire might have been worth before, he's not worth as much today.