There are numerous reasons new words are created, but “malamanteau” is confounding many people. The definition of this new word may be a little hazy, even if you read the XKCD web comic. However, if you’ve heard malamanteau as the word of the day at the coffee shop or water cooler, you may be wondering what the heck it means. Malamanteau has nothing to do with loan until payday, love, or even sarcasm. Malamanteau is, compared to all other things, simple.
Defining malamanteau as the author did
On XKCD this morning, the author drew a non-existent Wikipedia page for the word “malamanteau.” When this comic was posted, there was no such page, though there is now. XKCD defined malamanteau as “a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism.” This definition left even the smartest of financial types asking “huh?”
Breaking down what malamanteau means
The definition of malamanteau makes a lot more sense whenever you break down the basic parts of the definition. Neologism is simply a new word. Words blended together to create one word are known as a portmanteau. Any word that blends both the sound and the meaning of two words is a portmanteau – for example, “don’t” is a portmanteau of “do” and “not.” Lastly, you’ve a malapropism when you substitute a similar-sounding word that does not mean the exact same thing. Malapropism just means “inappropriate.” For example, allegory rather than alligator.
Malamanteau – the meaning as it should be defined
So, what does malamanteau really mean? Mixing a wrong word with a new word creates, then, a malamanteau. Mix “masil” and “obliterate” to create “masillerterate” to describe stock market crash ruining the economy.
Malamanteau is in and of itself a malamanteau.
Resources for the article
XKCD
http://xkcd.com/739/Define Please – Malamanteau
