When I was a little girl, I believed in fairy tales... that fantasy of what life would be. White dress, a prince charming who would carry me away to a castle on a hill. I would lie in bed at night and close my eyes and had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close I could taste them, but one day the fairy tale disappeared. It's hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely because we all have that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day we will open our eyes and it will come true. Then one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. This life, with all of its complexities, may be the fairy tale after all, because the journey is the best part. It's Happily Ever After...right now.

Monday, April 15, 2013

This shopaholic is chillaxin!


There is a clever trend in our culture to take two words and combine them to form a new word whose definition is an amalgamation of the original two.  There is actually a word for this trend: portmanteau.  Though some think it is another sign of the degradation of the English language (and they may be correct), I have to admit that I find some of these combinations quite fun!
Though I assumed this was a new trend, Humpty Dumpty explained the practice of combining words in the 1871 book Through the Looking Glass.  Describing the word mimsy as “flimsy and miserable,” Humpty Dumpty tells Alice in Wonderland, “You see it’s a like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word!”
Words like Brangelina and Bennifer are just silly.  Are we going to start calling the First Couple, Marack?  Or how about Zeyonce?  Are Will and Jada destined to be Jill, or Wada?  Sheer ridicularity!
Everyone has heard of smog, brunch, camcorder and emoticon.  My favorite portmanteau’s (LOVE my new fave word) are the creative ones.  Romanticide:  romantic suicide; the act of falling for someone that your friends all see is headed for disaster.  Or provokative:  the ability to say something in order to illicit the response you desire.  I know that when I bat my eyes and whine to Mr. Gotmyattention about my larduous (long+arduous) day, he’ll respond with a glass of wine and a foot massage (a drinkassage?).  Some call it manipulative, but I prefer provokative.  It sounds so much more trendtelligent! 
A criminal banker is a bankster.  Movember is all about growing a mustache in November.  Renoviction is the process of fixing up a house that some poor soul was booted out of.  Eating a very large meal that happens to be your favorite food on the planet, is substatialiscious.  Snowmaggedon is a massive snowstorm (Chicago 2010).
I’m fluent in Spanglish, though frequently I guesstimate.  When I feel thungry, I grab a canwich (yes, this really exists!).  I try to show grammercy to those with illitertrocities, and don’t intend to daileyenate anyone!

In Bliss & Grace (Blace?), Shugie
ps- I could wordiate all day!  Tell me your favorite portmanteau~
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