Portmanteau

What do you have when you want to combine two words because you are too lazy to spit them both out? A portmanteau. With Eric Hunley

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Episodes

Podcast

This one has to be done if not for anything, the meta aspect of things. Podcast - "iPod" and "Broadcast"... Or is it? Ben Hammersley original accidentally coined the term podcasting in an article as he explains on the BBC program Radio Four in 4. So where do we get the portmanteau of iPod and Broadcasting from a made up word? It is a backronym - another portmanteau - and the meaning is under some dispute. A little history. In 2000 Dave Winer drafted the Real Simple Syndication (RSS) standard to ...

Sep 11, 2019•Ep. 4

Frenemy

Frenemy, or the plural frenemies, combines Friend and Enemy thus making it both a Portmanteau and an oxymoron or "contradiction in terms." The earliest printed use of the term was from gossip columnist Walter Winchell in the Nevada State Journal article "Howz about calling the Russians our Frienemies?" In 2000 Sex and the City Season 3, Episode 16 was titled Frenemies. Ironically, the actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall are rumored to be frenemies themselves. Frenemy is a tricky term...

Jul 28, 2019•Ep. 3

Brexit

Brexit - "British" and "exit" references the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. This term was first coined by Peter Wilding, the chairman of British Influence, in a 2012 blog post called "Stumbling Towards the Brexit." Brexit culminates after several decades of history. Originally, the European Communities, predecessor to the EU were created in in the 1950s. Great Britain attempted to join in 1963 and again in '67 but was vetoed by Charles De Gaulle, President of France - ...

Jul 27, 2019•Ep. 2

Infomercial

This episode was chosen by a poll on Twitter. The poll had Infomercial, Infotainment, Bennifer, and Brangelina. The latter two had zero votes - so I someone is trying to tell me something. On to the winner -Infomercial. "Information" plus "Commercial." is actually a more recent version of an earlier portmanteau - "Advertorial" as in "advertisement" and "editorial." which Merriam Webster dates back to 1946. Most of us have been up late at night or at different periods of the day only to see thing...

Jul 26, 2019•Ep. 1

Trailer

Brexit, Bennifer, Brangelina. Infotainment infomercial and podcast .What do these all have in common? They're portmanteaus, sometimes called Frankenwords. These were first used by Lewis Carroll in "Through the Looking-Glass" and we are surrounded by by them everywhere we look. This new show - Portmanteau - will cover a new portmanteau every episode - they'll be short - and look into the history of the word of the day. These may be well known or they may be brand new. They may even be suggested b...

Jul 22, 2019•Ep. 1

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