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Power-Packed Word Blends: How to Evaluate Portmanteau Names for Companies or Products
by Marcia Yudkin
"Why snackrifice?"
This headline appears on the back of a box of Triscuits (textured wheat crackers). Although it uses a word that isn't in the dictionary, the instant you say the word to yourself, you understand its meaning. A "snackrifice" would involve forgoing the delicious snacks you enjoy, because of health, cost or other concerns.
This kind of word blend shows up occasionally in product, company and event names, as well as in labels for political groupings and demographic trends.
In the winter of 2011, people in the U.S. mid-Atlantic states were talking about a massive blizzard as Snowmageddon – also called a "snowtastrophe" and "snowpocalypse."
This type of verbal invention goes back at least to Lewis Carroll, whose character Humpty Dumpty explains a poem called "Jabberwocky" to Alice in Chapter 6 of "Through the Looking Glass."
"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy,' " Humpty Dumpty expounds. "You see, it's like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word."
Some more recent, relatively established examples of blended words are Bollywood (Bombay + Hollywood), brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog) and prequel (pre + sequel).
What makes an invention like this effective? Here is a five-point scoring system that separates the winners from the weaklings.
Points 1 and 2 signify whether or not the two words being combined are recognizable out of context. If both are, give the name two points; if only one is, give it one point. I'd give "prequel" two points, since no other word besides "sequel" ends in "-equel," and the intention of the "pre" twist is crystal clear.
I'd give "Bollywood" only one of two possible points here, because while "-ollywood" can evoke only "Hollywood," what the "B" stands for has to be learned. Indeed, the "B" reference is even more obscure than it once was, now that Bombay is known in the West as Mumbai. And I'd give "slithy" zero points, as its derivation from "slimy" and "lithe" is quite unguessable.
For corporate word-blend names, I'd give Verizon one of the two possible points, for its obvious resemblance to "horizon" and obscure reference to "veritas," the Latin word for "truth." Ditto for Accenture, where it's easy to recognize the initial meaning element "accent," but difficult to figure out that "ture " comes from "future." The product name Fruitsations gets two points here, because you most likely know immediately that the name implies "fruit" plus "sensations."
Point 3 signifies how neatly the two words fit together. "Snackrifice" wins this point too, because "snack" rhymes perfectly with the "sac" syllable it replaces. All three snow disaster words bandied about last month lose this point, however, because "snow" does not rhyme with the "Ar" in Armageddon, the "ca" in "catastrophe" or the "a" in "apocalypse." "Slithy" again loses the point, since the "m" of "slimy" got inexplicably lost in the combination.
For point 4, evaluate whether the name has just one plausible pronunciation. Here "snackrifice" prevails again, but Verizon falls short. I distinctly remember when the company was new not knowing whether it was intended as very-zahn or very-zone. In fact, it's ve-RYE-zahn, an option that didn't occur to me.
Point 5 is admittedly subjective. It signifies whether or not a word lover gets a shiver of delight contemplating the blended name. I'd give this point to "Bollywood," "Snowmageddon," "slithy" and "snackrifice," but not to "brunch," "smog," "snowtastrophe" or "snowpocalypse."
Thinking up word blends can become addictive! Be sure to run your creations through this five-point test before pegging expensive marketing campaigns on them.
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names according to the client's criteria. For a systematic process of coming up with a compelling new name or tag line, download a free copy of "19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line" at www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm .
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