Following JD's reference to portmanteau words, here are a couple I encountered last night.First, from a TV ad for a soap powder called Woolite (pictured right) is safe-tergent - for which the copywriter responsible should have his/her knuckles rapped.
But rather more interesting was the portmanteau coined during a BBC Radio 4 feature by a Brit whose grandparents came to the UK from Pakistan. Feeling equally alienated from his family's culture and 'mainstream' British culture, he referred to himself as Britishstani.
Not a portmanteau but a neologism that I predict we'll hear more of comes from the illustrious lips of our Prime Minister, who told Radio 4 listeners: "I've always been an Atlanticist". Meaning, I assume, that he takes great stock in the UK's 'special relationship' with our English-speaking cousins across the Pond.
What our non-English-speaking cousins across the Channel and North Sea will think of this westward gaze we can well imagine.
2 comments:
Good to see you still blogging, Apus...
'Atlanticist' makes it into the OED as a derivative of 'Atlanticism': "Belief in a colse relationship between western Europe and the US, or particularly in Nato." So I assume it's been around for a while.
And I was going to blog about 'safe-tergent' but you have beaten me to it. What an inane slogan: "More than detergent, it's safe-tergent!" Groan...
And I meant to say, Gautam Malkani wrote a novel called 'Londonstani' which I haven't read but believe is about British-born Asians. I'm not sure whether the term 'Londonstani' predates 'Britishstani' or not though!
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