@compunaut I wish I knew everything. I just didn’t realize this was something people didn’t know. I like trivia and I think portmanteaus are some of the coolest words.
@brhfl So it would appear the “short language” explanation is urban myth. Makes sense to me since many slang words aren’t really shorter than the original word.
@brhfl Hmm, and there’s what I get for having thought I figured it all out years ago.
That said, if not ‘short language’ perhaps it’s still a portmanteau, but instead for ‘specialized language’. The etymology there seems kind of uncertain and based a guesswork.
@brhfl Thanks, now I can sleep better at night. I also discovered while looking this up that the word “blockbuster” refers to 12,000 pound bombs that the RAF dropped on Germany in WWII, eliminating entire city blocks. Education!
Sort of like the word ‘alphabet’ was eventually derived from alpha beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. Things that we just don’t really think about…
Wait… this isn’t common knowledge?
@jbartus maybe, but i just became informed as such.
@ACraigL yeah I get that, I am just surprised and wondering if I’m the weird one here.
/giphy you’re a special snowflake, just like everyone else
@jbartus ‘Weird’? Not sure, but we all just accept that you already know everything even if we don’t
@compunaut I wish I knew everything. I just didn’t realize this was something people didn’t know. I like trivia and I think portmanteaus are some of the coolest words.
/giphy I did not know that
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=slang&allowed_in_frame=0
@brhfl So it would appear the “short language” explanation is urban myth. Makes sense to me since many slang words aren’t really shorter than the original word.
@brhfl Hmm, and there’s what I get for having thought I figured it all out years ago.
That said, if not ‘short language’ perhaps it’s still a portmanteau, but instead for ‘specialized language’. The etymology there seems kind of uncertain and based a guesswork.
@jbartus I concur
@brhfl Thanks, now I can sleep better at night. I also discovered while looking this up that the word “blockbuster” refers to 12,000 pound bombs that the RAF dropped on Germany in WWII, eliminating entire city blocks. Education!
Sort of like the word ‘alphabet’ was eventually derived from alpha beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. Things that we just don’t really think about…