|
|
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2 |
Once worked with a woman who constantly combined words - frustrated + flustered = flustrated. While drinking late one night with friends, we managed to find a word in the dictionary that actually described this compulsion of hers. Ironically, the word itself is a combination of two words. For years, we've tried to recall this word, but with no luck. Can anyone help?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
oooh, that's a good one, Cindy. Could it be maybe conflation or portmanteau that you're thinking of? I've heard "flustrated" a lot -- it's a useful combo. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
I knew a co-worker who used clumbersome often.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
M-W unabridged: flustrated Etymology: fluster + -ated (as in frustrated) : FLUSTERED (flustrate is in Webster's 1913 edition, evidently as a var. of fluster) edit - here are the OED citations: 1712 STEELE Spect. No. 493 {page}4 We were coming down Essex Street one Night a little flustrated. 1797 A. M. BENNETT Beggar Girl (1813) I. 106 She was, she confessed, quite flusterated at the idea. 1876 MRS. OLIPHANT Curate in Charge (ed. 5) II. iv. 100 The head of the college was slightly flustrated, if such a vulgar word can be used of such a sublime person.editē - I think in Linguistics this is merely called a blend, which The Mavens say flustrate is not.
Last edited by tsuwm; 01/26/07 04:24 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2
stranger
|
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2 |
It was neither. Portmanteau is the word most often used, but the word I found was similar to conflation. I think 'conflation' was one of the words found en route to the word I'm trying to recall. I basically searched the dictionary - one word leading me onto another - until I came upon it. What really tickled me was that the word itself was a combination of two words, each of which described the process. I love when stuff like that happens!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
It can also be called a frankenword. and, I pervicaciously repeat, the term used in linguistics seems to be blend. I remark on this because I was struck by the unusual event of a technical term being simpler than others in use.
Last edited by tsuwm; 01/29/07 12:23 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Quote:
I knew a co-worker who used clumbersome often.
then we have misunderestimate, as used by some noninestimable U.S. politician.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631 |
Let's not forget: Quote:
chortle verb & noun. laugh in a breathy, gleeful way; chuckle. ORIGIN 1871: coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass; probably a blend of chuckle and snort.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Hydra, though I have perforce read your signature line many times, I still don't understand it. Would you explain and/or source it?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Is perforce a portmanteau word?
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,331
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
854
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
