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What follows is an article on some current portmanteau trends. It is not my work, I only added the original meanings and examples for those foreign learners who have a hard time keeping up with the ebb and tide of English slang.

New words are made everyday.  Shakespeare invented a large chunk of our modern English and people have been trying to live up to his creativity ever since. Most new words die out as the fads they are, but the evolution of our language continues.

 

Bromance, adultescence, and Frankenstorm are just a few of the creative blends that have recently made it big but probably won’t stick around.

Sometimes, however, a coinage is so apt and useful that it does stick. When that happens, we sometimes get more than just one new word; we get a new kind of word ending, one that goes on to a long, productive career in word formation. “Bookmobile” was born in the 1920s and went on to spawn the likes of “bloodmobile,” “Wienermobile,” and “pimpmobile.” “Workaholic” is a creation of the late 60s that led to everything from “chocoholic” to “sleepaholic” to “Tweetaholic.” But not all of these creative endings have staying power. We don’t hear much today from the “bootlegger”-inspired “-leggers” of the 1940s—the foodleggers, gasleggers, tireleggers, and meatleggers who were circumventing the law to deal in valuable rationed goods.

Here are 11 other word endings that have become productive to varying degrees. You can probably think of a lot more to add to this list. Will they stand the test of time?

1. -NOMICS

With its origins in the staid and straightforward Nixonomics and Reaganomics, this one has rather promiscuously attached itself to almost everything: burgernomics, beeronomics, sexonomics and so on. All the better for its reproductive advantage—elementary survivalnomics!

Economics = money and production in a country.  beernomics = prices of beer, where beer is sold, how beer affects the economy

2. -ATHON

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this one was “barbarously extracted” from “marathon” back in the 1930s, and it’s proved its staying power since. Whether for a good cause or for no cause at all, our telethons, danceathons, bakeathons, drinkathons, complainathons and assorted other verbathons, have made this past century something of an athonathon.

Marathon = a long run or doing something for a long time.  danceathon = dancing for a long time, maybe as a competition

3. -GATE

This mark of scandal became productive almost immediately after the break in at the Watergate office complex was uncovered in the early 70s. Anywhere there’s a lie, an impropriety, or a cover-up, -gate will find a foothold. It has even spread to other languages: see “toallagate” (towelgate), a term coined after the Mexican government was revealed to have purchased $400 towels for the presidential residences.

Watergate = a scandal in American politics about President Nixon.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_%22-gate%22_suffix = list of other scandals that have used -gate.

4. -SPLAINING

Mansplaining, nerdsplaining, vegansplaining, catsplaining – seems like everybody’s got some ‘splaining to do these days.

Explaining = giving a reason for something, educating.  mansplaining = explaining why men are the way they are, their habits, what makes them manly, why a woman would never understand 

5. -CATION

It started with the staycation and the playcation. Soon –cation no longer cared to preserve the rhyme with vacation, and it roamed free among our leisure pursuits: foodcation, golfcation, shopcation, sleepcation. It can also refer to a break from work. Did you enjoy a recent stormcation? Are you hoping for a few days of snowcation this winter? Or will that make you long for a kidcation?

Vacation = a holiday, going away for fun, no work.  staycation = no work but no money to go away, staying home for holiday

6. -TAINMENT

Edutainment, watertainment, agritainment, newstainment—why be boring when you can wordertain?

Entertainment = something fun like a film or comedy show.  Edutainment = something fun but you also are learning, like a zoo

7. -ITUDE

You better check your momitude, geekitude, dudeitude, snarkitude, drunkitude or New Yorkitude. And if it works for you, wear it with prideitude!

Attitude = how you feel and act in different situations.  momitude = how mothers usually act, or their anger when a child has been bad

8. -TASTIC

It’s cheesetastic! It’s craft-tastic! It’s awesometastic! Almost anything can be made fantastic with this ending. It can even bring out the unrecognized positive qualities of that which is grosstastic, sadtastic, or craptastic. Beware the –tastic meaning drift, however. Craptastic wavers between “so crappy it’s great” and just “super crappy.”

Fantastic = wonderful, excellent, great.  cheesetastic = delicious cheese or something with a lot of cheese on it or in it

9. -LICIOUS

Babelicious, bootylicious, funalicious, partylicious, biblicious, yogalicious, mathalicious—if you like it, celebrate it with a –licious!

Delicious = tastes good or just is good.  babelicious = an attractive girl or woman, but not a flattering term, it is said by childish men

10. -POCALYPSE

Snowpocalypse! Heatpocalypse! Will the world end in firepocalypse or icepocalypse? This one seems to have begun in the domain of weather reports, but hysterical exaggeration has proved useful elsewhere. Have you not heard Rush Limbaugh’s warning of Barackalypse? The e-reader’s bringing of the bookpocalypse?

Apocalypse = the end of the world, a disaster. Snowpocalypse = so much snow it feels like winter hates you

11. -GASM

This new word ending offers the … um … ultimate in excitement. Eargasm, joygasm, sportsgasm, teagasm, soupgasm, stylegasm, and yes, ectoplasmgasm.

Orgasm = the peak of sexual satisfaction. Eargasm = hearing music that is so good you feel euphoric

This post originally appeared last year.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/13056/11-suffixes-gave-us-new-often-terrible-words#ixzz2jYGpwkoc
–brought to you by mental_floss!