Monday, March 18, 2024

Should both stage fright and speech fright instead be portmanteau words?


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On May 6, 2022 I blogged about Who popularized the word glossophobia? What is a better Plain English alternative? I suggested ‘speech fright’ would be better. Perhaps even better would be to make it a portmanteau, speechfright. Portmanteau is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:

 

“…a word or part of a word made by combining the spellings and meanings of two or more words or word parts (such as smog from smoke and fog).”

 

Stage fright also can get this treatment - becoming stagefright. Wikipedia says that originally:

 

“A portmanteau is a piece of luggage, usually made of leather and opening into two equal parts.”

 

I’ve illustrated portmanteau by an anonymous version of the Wikimedia Commons image for a famous medical bag.

 


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