Portmanteauverload Word Game

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett, and I recognize that guy.

It’s John Chanesky, our quiz guy.

Hi, John.

Hi, Grant.

Hi, Martha.

I recognize you guys, too.

This is terrific.

We all recognize each other.

It’s great.

So listen, you know, I’m often struck by pairs of words in which the last sound of the first word is the same as the first sound of the second word.

Now, it seems to me that when we pronounce these phrases, we don’t differentiate between the last sound and the first sound. What I mean by this is you get to weird sort of word parts, like this word part upside. What’s an upside? Well, if you take an object and you turn it vertically so its bottom is on its top, what is it? It’s upside down. Now, it’s not upside down, but it is upside down. It is sort of, sort of, you know, smushed together as like a sort of a portmonto overload that way.

Now, you may be the kind of person, the precise talker who says upside down with that pause in there, but I don’t know many people who do that in real life.

Now, I’ll give you a word part and a description of where you might encounter this word part.

Okay?

Here’s the first one.

I’m not sure what harvest is, but I hear it every year around September and October when farmers gather their crops. What is this harvest they speak of?

Harvest time?

No, you have to say harvest time.

Harvest time.

Harvest time.

Oh, I see.

I just say harvest time.

Right.

If you say harvest time, that’s sort of puncturing a hole in my balloon.

All right, let’s try another one.

Now, for a long time, I knew about par, as in I didn’t have a regular job. I only worked a few days a week. What par did I have?

Par time.

Par time, yes.

Very good.

You definitely know my friend Oren.

I’m sure Oren.

He’s fresh.

Fresh squeeze, that is, every morning.

I delight in his citrusy taste.

Who is my friend Oren?

Your friend Oren Juice.

Oren Juice, yes, that’s the guy.

I’m afraid I lost my Ard.

I wonder if you’ve seen it.

It’s got numbers on it.

It allows me to draw money from my financial institution.

Where is my, what’s my Ard?

Your bank card?

My bank Ard, yes, good.

You don’t want to run into awe.

If you get invaded by an occupying force and the military tells you what you can and can’t do, that’s not a good awe.

Marsha.

Almost.

Marsha’s in charge.

Marsha law.

Marsha law.

Yes, Marsha law.

Oh, that’s funny because you can work that both ways.

Yeah, you can.

You can go both ways with it.

Sure.

I actually like re when I’m driving on the highway for a long time.

I need a break.

I enjoy a nice re.

A ref stop.

That’s right.

A ref stop.

Now, just blame it all on your acher.

Your feelings, your behavior, the way you think and react, it’s all a product of your acher.

Human nature.

Human nature.

Yes, that’s it.

Be sure to keep an eye out for ois.

They say you should avoid it in speech and writing.

What kind of ois should you avoid?

Passive ois.

It ought to be avoided, yeah.

That’s it.

Passive ois.

Yes, very good.

So those are my examples of what I call portmanteau overloads.

John, those were wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Martha.

Thank you, Grant.

Take care, bud.

Talk to you next week.

Talk to you then.

Bye-bye.

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