Pop quiz! Everyone’s heard of manspreading (at least if you live in NYC), but what about misogynoir, platisher, or narcissistick? These are just some of the words that were selected last year as candidates for the Word of the Year award held by the American Dialect Society. What these words all have in common is that they are portmanteaus – a linguistic term that means taking parts of two or more words and combining them into a single new word with a whole new meaning.
If one reviews a running list of portmanteaus on Wikipedia it’s easy to see how these custom words have permeated our culture and become more heavily used in recent years: from a slew of celebrity christenings like Kimye and Brangelina, to movie titles like Sharknado, and inventions like tofurkey. Many custom words are being created to describe patterns of behaviors and feelings that while familiar are unique when taken into context of a more digital and politically sensitive world. Textperate and colombusing are just a few examples of an expanding clever list that reflects larger cultural themes at play.
While portmanteaus aren’t anything new, our culture seems to be latching on to these word trends because we’ve become so accustomed to having all kinds of information at our fingertips. In the recent Noah Baumbach film “While We’re Young” there’s a great scene where four of the characters are trying to remember a word that none of them can recall. One of the characters whips out his phone to look it up and the other says, “No! Let’s just NOT know.” and they all resign themselves to be ok with not knowing. It’s a moment that pauses to reflect on how we interact with the world, technology, and each other. A similar theme is found in the story written by the most recent winner of the New York Times modern love essay contest. Here it’s easy to see that how we might be in a constant search for new words because they aid in defining the increasing vagueness of our modern day relationships. But sometimes there is no deeper reason for these new terms, other than being fun and creative flourishes to language.
Brands have also been known to adopt this type of linguistic device because it has the potential to create very memorable campaigns, slogan, and names. As is the case with company names like Groupon (a combination of group and coupon), there’s a benefit to having a catchy ownable name that reflects the brand’s offering or ethos.
There are also past examples that make it questionable whether a product would have been as successful if it were not for the name. One instance is the cronut invented in 2013 by Chef Dominique Ansel at his bakery in NYC. The cronut is exactly as it sounds – half croissant and half donut. The cronut gained so much popularity at the time that it spawned a black market where cronuts were selling for $100 a piece. It’s doubtful this heavenly hybrid of a pastry would have also landed a feature on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon if it were called something as banal as “Dominique’s Beignets”.
That’s not to say portmanteaus are always a great idea. In fact, they can lead to badvertising. A case in point: Burger King’s “Satisfries”. These low-calorie french fries were expected to be one of the biggest fast food launches in recent years but failed miserably.
A few things to learn from marketing failures like this. 1. Portmanteaus work best when the combined word is simple and sounds natural. It should be able to roll off the tongue. 2. In order to help convey the meaning of a new word, portmanteaus are best created using a mashup of words in the same category. The word satisfaction might make some think of the Rolling Stones or a customer service manual – and may not immediately conjure thoughts of healthy food alternatives. 3. And most important, brands should avoid going for the lowest hanging fruit and make sure they don’t appear too desperate to fit in. Just because two words are mashed together doesn’t make it particularly creative and doesn’t guarantee its acceptance into our modern vocabulary.