The word snoop - Ursula Dubosarsky 2009

Portmanteau words
Say that again!

Mmm, I’m feeling hungry. Look at the time—it’s about half past ten in the morning. Too late for breakfast, too early for lunch . . . I know, I’ll have brunch!

Brunch is a portmanteau word. That’s a word that is a blend or mixture of two different words—like breakfast and lunch. These sorts of words can be handy. For example, if you look outside the window and see all the smoke and fog mixed up together, what have you got? You guessed it—smog!

The name portmanteau was given to these sorts of words by the writer Lewis Carroll over a hundred years ago in his wonderful book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. In those days portmanteau was a French word for a special kind of suitcase that had two separate compartments inside it. Alice asks one of the characters, Humpty Dumpty (yep, the famous egg himself), to explain what these lines from a crazy-sounding poem “The Jabberwocky” mean.

’Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

All mimsy were the borogroves

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Humpty Dumpty begins his explanation: “Well, ’slithy’ means ’lithe and slimy.’ Lithe is the same as ’active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.” The word chortle was actually invented in this poem—a portmanteau word made up of chuckle and snort. (Now that really makes me snuckle!)

A portmanteau word is different from a compound word—that’s when you have a word made up of two whole and different words put together, like loudmouth, football, or blackboard. With a portmanteau word, the two words blend into each other and usually each loses a bit of itself to fit into the other one. So while Labrador-poodle would be a compound word, Labradoodle is a portmanteau word. And have you ever heard of a tigon? (Or do I mean a liger?) If you are a Pokémon fan you will have noticed many of the monster species have portmanteau names, like Turtwig (turtle and twig) or Torchic (torch and chick). Do you know any others?

Some portmanteau words have been around so long we forget that’s how they came about. Electrocute, for example, comes from electrify and execute; ginormous is a mix of gigantic and enormous. Then there are the more recently invented words like podcast, made up of iPod and broadcast, or things like docudrama and mockumentary. And what about romcom? Now that’s an abbreviated-rhyming-portmanteau-word! (Have you figured it out? That’s right, “romantic comedy.”)

snurtle

Why not make up your own portmanteau words? You can use any sorts of words. For instance, an animal that’s a mixture of a rhinoceros and a kangaroo could be a rhinaroo. Or what time of day do you think it would be if I said to you, “Good aftorning!” And how about a hamburger with lots of legs—a burgerpillar. (I think I might try drawing some of these . . .)

On the next page are some portmanteau words children have made up—can you work out what they are?

Pormanteau words

1. A troop of brave commangos ran up the hill.

2. I want to go inside, but I’m just too nervited !

3. I’m not asleep, I’m just threaming.

4. Do you know how to play the pianpet?

Well, Word Snoops, there’s not much of my secret message to go. But you’ll need to decipher this code if you want to read the full sentence. (Hint: Did you read the chapter on mondegreens?)

FOOL LEAK WALLY FIE DAND

Answers

MONDEGREENS

1. Oh, say can you see?

2. Sleep in heavenly peace

3. The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind

4. Knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door

ONOMATOPOEIA

1. Ping-Pong

2. Hiss

3. Cuckoo

4. Murmur

PORTMANTEAU WORDS

1. Fighting mangos—a cross between “commando” and “mangos”

2. When you feel “nervous” and “excited”

3. A cross between “dreaming” and “thinking”

4. An instrument that is half “piano,” half “trumpet”