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Visit the page called About Portmanteau Words And the Portmanteau Words Table for an explanation of how to use this table: click here.
Portmanteau Words
| Portmanteau Word | Source Words | Submitted By | Authenticity | Comments |
| advertainment | advertisement, entertainment | ETAF Staff | Authentic | A form of communication that combines the elements of advertising and entertainment. |
| advertorial | advertisement, editorial | ETAF Staff | Newly Coined | A client-sponsored editorial in a magazine, newspaper, web page, or similar medium. You can't trust 'em. |
| affluenza | affluenza, influenza | ETAF Staff | Authentic | A feeling of dissatisfaction, anxiety, etc, caused by the dogged and ongoing pursuit of more. |
| affluenza | affluent, influenza | ETAF Staff | Newly Coined | 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. |
| agitprop | agitation, propaganda | ETAF Staff | Authentic | From a Russian portmanteau word that's derived from source words that are directly comparable to their English equivalents. |
| alegar | ale, vinnegar | ETAF Staff | Authentic | Vinegar made from ale; sour ale. An informal term dating from the 16th century and still used in Britain. |
| anticipointment | anticipation, disappointment | ETAF Staff | Newly Coined | The let down feeling that comes after the hype dies. |
| avionics | aviation, electronics | ETAF Staff | Authentic | Avionics is the science and technology beind the development and use of electrical and electronic devices in aviation. The term also refers to the electronic devices themselves. |
| bacronym | backronym, acronym | ETAF Staff | Authentic | A specially constructed phrase that is the source of a word or phrase that is an acronym. This portmanteau word first appeared in the November 1983 edition of the Washington Post monthly neologism contest. Its winner, Meredith G. Williams of Potomac, Washington, defined it as the "same as an acronym, except that the words were chosen to fit the letters." A bacronym's word or words are chosen to match a preexisting word or phrase instead of the other way around. You start with an existing word or phrase that may or may not be an acronym and from it create a new word or phrase to match its letters. For this reason a bacronym has been referred to as a "reverse acronym." For example, in commercial aviation, the acronym ETOPS was created by the Federal Aviation Admininstration (acronym=FAA) to be an bacronym for the phrase Extended Range Twin Operations; however, in aviation slang, ETOPS is a play on this FAA acronym; in aviation slang, the bacronym ETOPS stands for phrase Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim. Also spelled backronym. |
| balun | balanced, unbalanced | ETAF Staff | Authentic | From the field of electrical and TV house wiring. A small, simple device for converting a so-called balanced electrical line (2-wire electrical line for building wiring) into a so-called unbalanced coaxial line (coaxial cable for TV, etc.), and vice versa. Sometimes called a balun coil. |
| bash | bang, smash | ETAF Staff | Authentic | Note: This derivation of bash is in doubt. |
| beetabaga | beet, rutabaga | ETAF Staff | Newly Coined | 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. |
| bionics | biology, electronics | ETAF Staff | Authentic | Bionics is the field in which devices and mechanical parts are designed and constructed by combining mechanical and electronic engineering to assist humans in performing difficult, dangerous, or intricate tasks, as by supplementing or duplicating parts of the body. |
| biopic | biography, picture | ETAF Staff | Authentic | A motion picture based on the life of a real person. |
| bit | binary, unit | ETAF Staff | Authentic | From computers. |
| blaxploitation | black, exploitation | ETAF Staff | Authentic | The exploitation of black people (especially with regard to stereotyped roles in movies). A film genre or style about social problems and crime amongst African Americans. |
| blog | we(B) log | ETAF Staff | Authentic | blog is a portmanteau word composed of the letter b in the word web and the word log. A blog is a special kind of website at which entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Blog is also a verb which means to maintain or add content to a blog. |
| blunchner, dinch, lupper, bunner | breakfast, lunch, dinner | ETAF Staff | Newly Coined | 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. |
| boatel | boat, hotel | ETAF Staff | Authentic | A boatel is a waterside hotel with dock space for persons who travel by boat. |
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