Mad as a hatter

Mad as a hatter - Crazy, demented

Reminds you of Alice's companion in her wonderland? I used to think the expression was Lewis Carroll's gift to the language just as jabberwocky is. Turns out the phrase was popular well before Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" was published. "Mad hatter syndrome" was actually a medical affliction in Carroll's times.In the mid-1800s, hat makers used hot solutions of mercuric nitrate to shape wool felt hats and prolonged exposure to mercury vapors caused severe neurological damage ranging from uncontrollable muscular twitching (known as "hatter's shakes") to dementia. Hatters working in poorly ventilated workshops would breathe in (elemental) mercury vapor and in advanced cases, developed hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms.

Source: http://www.word-detective.com
Pic : www.rjohnwright.com

Portmanteau

Portmanteau - (Pronounced as Port-man-tow) noun

What do u think is common between words like: motel, chortle, muppet, brunch, smog, spork, moped, cyborg, blog or the silliest of them all Brangelina? It's a cinch really, and am sure u all know what I'm arriving at! :)

They are all portmonteau words or simply put portmanteaux/portmanteaus (plural of portmonteau) : words that are formed by combining both sounds and meanings from two or more words.

Portmonteau according to Chambers entered in English from Middle French around 1584 and was originally used to mean a travelling bag, typically with two compartments (porte- from porter- to carry, manteau- from Old French mantel- cloak).

The term portmanteau as a description of word combinations was devised by English writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832-98). Carroll introduced the portmanteau word-combination term in the book 'Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There' (the sequel to 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland'), which first appeared in 1871. In the book, the character Humpty Dumpty uses the word portmanteau (as a descriptive noun) to describe to Alice how the new word 'slithy' is formed from two separate words and meanings, lithe and slimy: "...You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word..."

"Portmanteau" is rarely used to refer to a suitcase in English any more, since that type of a suitcase has fallen into disuse.

This post takes me back to my post on Denial ain't just a river in Egypt where I talked about how some of the seminal authors whose works we have read and loved before, have enriched our vocabularies. This seems to be an interesting trip I have embarked on and I'm looking forward to every pit-stop. :)

Sources: http://dictionary.reference.com/ , www.wikipedia.org


Update (22/04/07): by 666

Check out this extensive list on portmanteaus

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Does this post belong here? Isn't the blog about etymology? It sure is. So what's a quote from the ever-wicked and eminently-quotable Mark Twain doing here?

The quote has gone beyond being just a quote. It's a popular expression now and I love the play of words involved. Many great authors have coined some beautiful expressions and Shakespeare for one, takes credit for the most: salad days, one fell swoop, in one's heart of heart..........am sure there must be others by GB Shaw, Kipling, Dickens, Saki, Lewis Carroll and a detailed research will not go in vain. I shall embark on that journey once I have more time on hands :)

The expression, "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." uses the similarity between the way the name of the river, "The Nile" and the therapeutic term "denial" sound when spoken. It is a humorous way of saying that some one refuses to see what is obvious to every one else, usually as a way of protecting himself from the pain the truth would cause.

An example of the use of expression as I found it on http://www.phrases.org.uk/

"Junior weighs as much as a grown man even though he is only ten. He has second and third helpings at meals. In between meals he snacks on chocolate bars and cake. His mother insists he isn't fat; he just has big bones."

"Ha! She is living proof that denial ain't just a river in Egypt."

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/