What's your fave portmanteau? I'm fond of "relaxative"

2008-05-26

I like combining existing words to come up with new ones: c'est like synthesizing ideas, only textier. I recently googled for "relaxative", and pleasantly found it'd already been entered on the Urban Dictionary, and defined as:

Anything, physical or emotional, that clears and frees a constipated mind.

The best relaxative for any of my stresses is my lady.

I like that a lot. It's sweet. We've different ways of referring to "mental constipation"; I call it slop ("Chop the slop!"), some of my friends call it sewage, sludge, or certain other s-words.

What's your fave portmanteau?

(And lest you forget this somewhat-difficult word, easy mnemonic: "poor man's toes", as my wife declared.)

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Russell 2008-05-26 at 4:14 PM UTC

I "guarantold" ya!

Laetizia Coronet 2008-05-27 at 8:28 AM UTC

Not sure if it's a portmanteau, but there's dialect and regiolect (a regiolect would be a collection of more or less similar dialects from a region) in language. For pronounciation of language, deliberately changed in order to win popularity (think radio deejays, rappers etc.) I invented populect.
Sadly, noone's ever picked up on the word, not in my own Dutch, nor in English.

Torley 2008-06-01 at 10:35 AM UTC

@Russell: THAT'S GOOD.

@Laetizia: I'd say that's a portmanteau, or at least, a neologism of sorts. I wouldn't give up on using that word yet in hopes it'll spread; it sounds to me like it has growing legs to come!

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