Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Frankenstein Words*

Major irritation: the combination of two perfectly
good words into some horrid amalgamated word

E.G. brunch, chunnel, skort, spork, chocizza
(although I find these delicious
www.chocizza.com)

Are we really so pressed for time that we need
to ruin our language to save a few syllables?

When my father passed away and was cremated,
the funeral director actually said to our family,
"here are the cremains" (yes, a combination
of "cremated remains")...is nothing sacred?

(*you say "portmanteau", I say "Frankenstein word" -- "portmanteau" being way too beautiful a word to ascribe to the words I've mentioned.)

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