Now *there's a portmanteau for you. It and others, including
pleather and
MPEG* made the cut for M-W's latest annual Collegiate dictionary.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/new_words.htm~~~~
* Zat a word?
MPEG is another envelope-pushing example of my definition-of-word question, since it means more than just a simple expansion of the initialism. MPEG stands for Moving Pictures Experts Group, but it refers to a format defined by that group or a file that is encoded using that format.
Yeahbut®, at least 'pleather' (the *word
) has been around since the early-mid seventies (from what I recall).
I don't know where I've been since the 70s, but the article about inclusion of the word was the first time I had ever heard of pleather. Had to go look it up. But I also found this:
On average, the price of pleather costs three times less than its true leather counterpart.
This is such a BAD sentence I don't know exactly where to start. So I'll start with what really torqued my testicles: If pleather costs three times less than leather, what is the cost of something that is one time less than leather? What about two times less than leather? And What the HELL was the writer trying to get across? I can guess that the person meant to say that pleather cost a third of what leather costs, but it sure was a crappy way of phrasing it.
And if the price costs less than leather, how about the pleather itself?
That which costs one time less than leather is free. That which costs three times less than leather they pay you twice the price of leather for you to haul it away.
On average, the price of pleather costs three times less than its true leather counterpart.
The fee charged to learn the price of pleather is one-third the fee to learn the price of real leather?
Although they cite 'pleather' from "1982", it is the word I've been using for the thin black covering which Fender amplifiers (and the like) have been using since the dawn of time (both mine and theirs)... at least since I bought my first one in 1974.
edit : If you search for 'pleather' on google they, of course, ask you if you meant 'leather'...
pleather=the hide from a pterodactyl...
So I'll start with what really torqued my testicles: No fair making me spray my coffee all over my computer in the office !!!
'You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: 'let me sing you a song to comfort you.'
'Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.
'It's long,' said the Knight, 'but very, VERY beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it--either it brings the TEARS into their eyes, or else--'
'Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
'Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called "HADDOCKS' EYES."'
'Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel interested.
'No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. 'That's what the name is CALLED. The name really IS "THE AGED AGED MAN."'
'Then I ought to have said "That's what the SONG is called"?' Alice corrected herself.
'No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The SONG is called "WAYS AND MEANS": but that's only what it's CALLED, you know!'
'Well, what IS the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.
'I was coming to that,' the Knight said. 'The song really IS "A-SITTING ON A GATE": and the tune's my own invention.'
/Carroll
So... sitting on a gate as a ways and means will get an aged aged man Haddock's eyes?
Is Haddock his real name or is that just what he's called?
BTW - Nice one, phlatlander