What else could a Grammarmatrix do but be lured in by the promising phrase, “A wacky way with words,” on the front page of the Feb. 3 Sunday Monitor. Music to the Grammarmatrix’s ears! And she wasn’t disappointed!
“A wacky way with words” led the Grammarmatrix to the Books section on page D4. The Grammarmatrix found and loved Sarah Earle’s review of Calef Brown’s books. She inspired the Grammarmatrix to read Brown’s book, We Go Together, or any of his books for that matter, because of the fun, zany and creative wordsmithing.
It made the Grammarmatrix think about ways to spice up any writing, and Calef Brown’s book Polka-Bats, made the Grammarmatrix think of portmanteaus. (Polka-bats isn’t a portmanteau; it just made the grammarmatrix think of portmanteaus.)
So, just what is a portmanteau? (pronounced port .mon. toe’) Technically, it’s a French word for a suitcase with two compartments. As a word, it’s formed by blending two words together, creating a new word. For example, skort comes from skirt and shorts. Spork comes from spoon and fork. Brangelina, well, you can figure that one out.
For any Lewis Carroll fans, in his book Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty explained portmanteau by saying, “You see it’s like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed up into one word.”
So Concord writers, become crany (creative and zany) and make your own words; you never know, Calef Brown may use them in his next book!
