Dragaera

OT: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity (was: bois...)

Mark A Mandel mam at theworld.com
Sat Aug 17 17:53:17 PDT 2002

On Sat, 17 Aug 2002, Sean wrote:

#'Twas brillig,
#and the slithey toves did gyre and and gimble in the wabe
#All mimsy were the borogroves
#And the mome raths out gabe
#
#Lewis Carrol - from "Jabberwocky". (from memory too, so please don't get
#upset if it's not perfect)
#
#I've heard these words called "port_man_teau" -- spelled wrongly <=  ; ) no
#doubt -- meaning they are nonsensical combination words - slithey - maybe a
#combination of slimey and slither (we can only guess; Carrol doesn't explain
#his words).

"Portmanteau" is a Victorian word for a large suitcase; from French,
literally, a coat-carrier. IIRC Humpty Dumpty tells Alice that these
words pack up two meanings in them, just as you pack things into a
portmanteau.

-- Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoepist, and
   Philological Busybody
   a.k.a. Mark A. Mandel