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#REDIRECT [[Xkcd#Recurring_themes]]
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{{Article for deletion/dated|page=Malamanteau|timestamp=20120910233159|year=2012|month=September|day=10|substed=yes|help=off}}
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{{Infobox
| bodystyle = width: 270px
| title = Malamanteau
| titlestyle = background-color:#99BADD
| labelstyle = width:
| datastyle =
| above =
| above-style = background-color: #99BADD
| image1 = [[File:Malamanteau.png|250px]]
| caption1 = The original [[xkcd]] comic strip for "Malamanteau," with mouseover text "The article has twenty-three citations, one of which is an obscure manuscript from the 1490's and the other twenty-two are arguments on [[Language Log|LanguageLog]]."<ref name="xkcd">{{cite web|url=http://xkcd.com/739/ |title=Malamanteau |publisher=xkcd |date=February 22, 2010 |accessdate=December 21, 2011}}</ref>
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| headerstyle = background-color: #99BADD
| label2 = Meaning
| data2 = A form of [[portmanteau]] (a new word formed by combining other words), often unintentional
| label3 = Examples
| data3 = ''misunderestimate'', ''insinuendos'', ''bewilderness'', ''refudiate''
| label4 = Etymology
| data4 = Steve Goldberg on the [[MetaFilter#Subsites at MetaFilter|Ask MetaFilter]] forums, July 17, 2007, [[xkcd]] and [[Wikipedia]]
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A '''malamanteau''' (plural: ''malamanteaux'') is a [[neologism]] defined by [[Robert Lane Greene]] in ''The Economist'' as an erroneous and unintentional [[portmanteau]] (a new word formed by combining other words). Examples include ''insinuendos'' (from ''innuendo'' and ''insinuation''), ''bewilderness'' and ''refudiate''. [[Randall Munroe]] of [[xkcd]] defined it as a "[[neologism]] for a [[portmanteau]] created by incorrectly combining a [[malapropism]] with a neologism." The word is itself a portmanteau of malapropism and portmanteau.<ref name="Economist"/>

A malamanteau may be created when somebody confuses two words, using one in place of the other. Unlike a malapropism or an [[eggcorn]], the fumbled word is not completely replaced, but merely transfixed to the new one in the manner of a portmanteau. A well-known example is ''misunderestimate'', uttered by [[George W. Bush]] (shortly before he was elected President of the United States), who was likely jumbling the words ''underestimate'' and ''misunderstand''.<ref name="McKean"/><ref name="Telegraph"/>
__TOC__
==Etymology==
The earliest known use of the term was on the [[MetaFilter#Subsites at MetaFilter|Ask MetaFilter]] forums on July 17, 2007. When trying to classify the linguistic phenomenon, Philadelphia musician Steve Goldberg,<ref name="McKean"/> identified as user ludwig_van, commented "It's not [[spoonerism]]. More like a portmanteau combined with a malapropism. So I'd go with malamanteau or a portmanpropism."<ref>{{cite web|title=How to define this language mistake?|url=http://ask.metafilter.com/67192/How-to-define-this-language-mistake#1006932|publisher=Ask MetaFilter|date=July 17, 2007}}</ref>

The word was popularized by former NASA roboticist [[Randall Munroe]] in a May 11, 2010 [[xkcd]] comic strip which featured a facsimile of an invented [[Wikipedia]] entry for "malamanteau" reading "A malamanteau is a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism. It is itself a portmanteau of..."<ref name="xkcd"/> Munroe created the [[stunt word]] to lampoon Wikipedia's writing style and tendency to overuse certain words.<ref name="LL2">{{cite web|last=Liberman|first=Mark|authorlink=Mark Liberman|title=Once more into the malamanteau|url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2758|publisher=Language Log|date=November 6, 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Malamanteau page history.jpg|thumb|The May 11, 2010 page history of Wikipedia's "malamanteau" entry]]
Shortly thereafter, an entry for "malamanteau" was created on the English Wikipedia, mirroring the strip's language. Editors from the encyclopedia disputed whether the word deserved an entry and the article was repeatedly deleted and recreated before being listed for discussion on a Wikipedia noticeboard.<ref>{{cite web|title=All public logs: Malamanteau|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Malamanteau|publisher=Wikipedia|accessdate=August 25, 2012}}</ref> The incident was picked up by various media and the 19,000 word debate<ref>{{cite web|title=Redirects for Discussion: Malamanteau|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Redirects_for_discussion/Log/2010_May_12&oldid=440303867|publisher=Wikipedia|accessdate=August 25, 2012}}</ref> over whether malamanteau was a word and whether it met [[Notability in the English Wikipedia|Wikipedia's notability guidelines]] was reported on many blogs.<ref>{{cite web|last=Beutler|first=William|title=Much Ado About Malamanteau|url=http://thewikipedian.net/2010/05/18/much-ado-about-malamanteau/|publisher=The Wikipedian|date=May 18, 2010}}
*{{cite web|last=Rice|first=Mary|title=Malamanteau {{!}} Defining a new word|url=http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/05/12/malamanteau-defining/|publisher=Personal Money Network|date=May 12, 2010}}
*{{cite web | publisher = Slashdot | accessdate =May 17, 2010 | url = http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/05/13/183221/Wikipedia-Is-Not-Amused-By-Entry-For-xkcd-Coined-Word | title = Wikipedia Is Not Amused By Entry For xkcd-Coined Word}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=0739: "Malamanteau"|url=http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=60150|publisher=xkcd Forums|date=May 12, 2010}}
*{{cite news|last=Pareso|first=Brad|title=Nothing But Net: The Net at 10 a.m.|url=http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/05/13/nothing-but-net-the-net-at-10-a-m/|newspaper=Long Island Press|date=May 13, 2010}}
*{{cite web|title=Malamanteau Wikipedia Controversy!|url=http://news.lalate.com/2010/05/12/malamanteau-wikipedia/|publisher=LA Late|date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> On May 12 the word appeared on the [[Google Trends]] top 10 list.<ref>{{cite web|title=Malamanteau 2010|url=http://www.google.com/trends/?q=malamanteau&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2010&sort=0|publisher=Google Trends|accessdate=August 25, 2012}}</ref><ref name="McKean"/><ref name="LL1">{{cite web|last=Liberman|first=Mark|title=22 arguments|url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2314|publisher=Language Log|date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> [[Urban Dictionary]] lists as one of its definitions of malamanteau "A word defined to infuriate Wikipedia editors."<ref>{{cite web|title=2. Malamanteau|url=http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Malamanteau&defid=4957403|publisher=Urban Dictionary|accessdate=August 25, 2012}}</ref>

==Examples and definition==
Also in May 2010 lexicographer [[Erin McKean]] wrote an article about the word, "One-day wonder," for ''The Boston Globe''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Vocabulinks |work=Schott's Vocab |url=http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/vocabulinks-11/|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 9, 2010}}</ref> In the article, she lists "insinuendos," "bewilderness," and the [[Bushism]] "misunderestimated" as malamanteaux.<ref name="McKean">{{cite news | title=One-Day Wonder | accessdate =May 31, 2010 | url = http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/05/30/one_day_wonder/ | work=The Boston Globe | first=Erin | last=McKean | date=May 30, 2010}}</ref>

[[Sarah Palin]] coined a malamanteau that summer with her use of "[[refudiate]]", combining the words refute and repudiate.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|last=Hensher|first=Philip|title=Sarah Palin's struggle with English language|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/sarah-palin/7901926/Sarah-Palins-struggle-with-English-language.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=July 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Mayotte|first=TJ|title=Dictionary Battles: The Fight to Find Meaning in Doublespeak|url=http://elkridge.patch.com/articles/dictionary-battles-the-fight-to-find-meaning-in-doublespeak|newspaper=Elkridge Patch|date=March 30, 2011}}
*{{cite web|last=Liberman|first=Mark|title=Refudiate?|url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2463|publisher=Language Log|date=July 18, 2010}}</ref> The word was chosen as new word of the year for 2010 by ''New Oxford American Dictionary'', with the statement "From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used 'refudiate,' we have concluded that neither 'refute' nor 'repudiate' seems consistently precise, and that 'refudiate' more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of 'reject.'"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/11/sarah-palin-refudiate.html|title=Top of the Ticket: Sarah Palin's 'refudiate' named dictionary's word of the year|date=November 15, 2010 |first=Craig |last=Howie |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

Malamanteaux have been the topic of discussion on [[Language Log]], a collaborative language blog maintained by phonetician [[Mark Liberman]].<ref name="LL2"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Mair|first=Victor|title=Veracious|url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2315|publisher=Language Log|date=May 12, 2010}}</ref><ref name="LL1"/> [[Robert Lane Greene]], writing in ''The Economist'', criticized Munroe's definition for malamanteau, arguing that it was too specific to be useful. He proposed in his blog "Johnson" that a malamanteau be defined as "an erroneous and and unintentional portmanteau."<ref name="Economist">{{cite news|title=Eggcorn, mashup, malamanteau or other?|url=http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/11/neologisms|newspaper=The Economist|date=November 4, 2010|author=[[Robert Lane Greene|R.L.G.]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|35em}}

[[Category:Self-reference]]
[[Category:Sociolinguistics]]
[[Category:Words coined in the 2000s]]

Latest revision as of 14:08, 18 November 2020