Week 3️⃣ 0️⃣

• Amtrak – the US national passenger rail service; from American and track. "Amtrak connects over 500 destinations across 46 states."
• Animatronics – robotic puppets or figures used in film and theme parks; from animated and electronics. "The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park combined animatronics with early CGI."
• Biopic – a film that dramatises the life of a real person; from biographical and picture. "The biopic about Fela Kuti has been in development for several years."
• Bollywood – the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai; from Bombay and Hollywood. "Bollywood produces more films annually than Hollywood and reaches audiences across the globe."
• Brexit – the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union; from Britain and exit. "The word Brexit itself became one of the most searched terms in the world in 2016."
• Bromance – a close but non-romantic friendship between two men; from brother and romance. "The film's central bromance was more convincing than its actual love story."
• Brunch – a late-morning meal combining elements of breakfast and lunch; from breakfast and lunch. "Sunday brunch has become a social ritual for many people in British cities."
• Camcorder – a handheld device combining a video camera and a recorder; from camera and recorder. "The camcorder made home video affordable for ordinary families in the 1980s."
• Camelopard – an old English word for a giraffe; from camel and leopard, reflecting early European attempts to describe the animal. "Medieval scholars called the giraffe a camelopard, believing it to be a hybrid of the two creatures."
• Chugger – a person who approaches strangers on the street to solicit charity donations; from charity and mugger. "She crossed the road to avoid the chuggers outside the shopping centre."
• Chunnel – the Channel Tunnel connecting England and France; from Channel and tunnel. "Taking the Chunnel is faster than flying when you account for airport check-in times."
• Clickbait – online content deliberately designed to entice users into following a link; from click and bait. "The headline was pure clickbait, bearing almost no relation to the article beneath it."
• Cyborg – a being combining organic and mechanical components; from cybernetic and organism. "Science fiction has long imagined a future in which the line between human and cyborg is unclear."
• Edutainment – content designed to educate while entertaining; from education and entertainment. "The documentary was praised as effective edutainment for younger audiences."
• Electrocute – to injure or kill with an electric current; from electric and execute. "The word was coined in 1889 when the electric chair was introduced as a method of execution."
• Eyeborg – a device implanted in the body that extends sensory perception; from eye and cyborg. "Artist Neil Harbisson's eyeborg allows him to hear colours as sounds through an antenna in his skull."
• Frenemy – a person who is simultaneously a friend and a rival or adversary; from friend and enemy. "The two companies have been frenemies for years, competing in some markets while collaborating in others."
• Glamping – camping with luxurious amenities; from glamorous and camping. "The festival offered glamping options including heated tents and proper beds."
• Hangry – bad-tempered as a result of hunger; from hungry and angry. "She was getting hangry after waiting two hours for a table."
• Hermaphrodite – an organism or person with both male and female characteristics; from the Greek gods Hermes and Aphrodite. "In Greek myth, Hermaphroditus merged with a water nymph to become a single being of both sexes."
• Jackalope – a mythical creature from American folklore depicted as a jackrabbit with antelope horns; from jackrabbit and antelope. "Postcards featuring the jackalope have been sold as novelty souvenirs in the American West since the 1930s."
• Labradoodle – a crossbreed dog combining a Labrador retriever and a poodle; developed in Australia in the 1980s. "The labradoodle was originally bred to be a hypoallergenic guide dog."
• Lenovo – the Chinese technology company; from Legend (its original name) and novo (Latin for new). "Lenovo became the world's largest PC manufacturer after acquiring IBM's personal computer division in 2005."
• Liger – the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger; the largest known cat in the world. "Ligers only exist in captivity, as lions and tigers do not share territory in the wild."
• Malware – software designed to cause damage to a computer; from malicious and software. "The malware was embedded in what appeared to be a legitimate software update."
• Mansplaining – the habit of a man explaining something to a woman in a patronising way, typically something she already knows; from man and explaining. "His mansplaining reached a new peak when he explained her own research back to her."
• Microsoft – the technology company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975; from microcomputer and software. "The name Microsoft was first used in a letter Gates wrote to Allen in 1975."
• Mockumentary – a film or programme that adopts documentary style to tell a fictional story; from mock and documentary. "The Office used the mockumentary format to find comedy in the mundane reality of office life."
• Motel – a roadside hotel designed for motorists; from motor and hotel. "They pulled off the highway and checked into a motel for the night."
• Movember – an annual campaign in which men grow moustaches during November to raise awareness of men's health issues; from moustache and November. "His Movember moustache raised over five hundred pounds for prostate cancer research."
• Muppet – a puppet character created by Jim Henson; from marionette and puppet. Also British slang for a foolish person. "Don't be such a muppet, you had the keys in your hand the whole time."
• Netflix – the global streaming service founded in 1997; from internet and flicks. "Netflix began as a DVD postal rental service before pivoting entirely to streaming."
• Pixel – the smallest unit of a digital image; from pix (informal for pictures) and el (from element). "A standard HD screen contains over two million pixels arranged in a grid of 1920 by 1080."
• Podcast – a series of digital audio episodes available for download; from iPod and broadcast. "The podcast has over two million listeners across more than eighty countries."
• Portmanteau – a word formed by blending parts of two or more words; also a type of large suitcase. "Smog is a classic portmanteau, blending smoke and fog into a single efficient word."
• Romcom – a film or television genre combining romance and comedy; from romantic and comedy. "The romcom peaked in the 1990s with films like Notting Hill and You've Got Mail."
• Sitcom – a television comedy series based on recurring characters in everyday situations; from situation and comedy. "Fawlty Towers remains one of the most celebrated British sitcoms ever made."
• Smog – a dense haze caused by pollution; from smoke and fog. "Smog levels in the city reached dangerous levels after a week without rain."
• Spork – a utensil combining the bowl of a spoon and the tines of a fork; from spoon and fork. "The spork has been a staple of fast food restaurants and school canteens since the 1970s."
• Staycation – a holiday spent at or near home; from stay and vacation. "Rising flight prices have made the staycation increasingly popular among British families."
• Telethon – a long broadcast event used to raise money for charity; from television and marathon. "Comic Relief's telethon has raised hundreds of millions of pounds since 1988."
• Tigon – the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion; the reciprocal cross to the liger. "Tigons are smaller than ligers and are even rarer in captivity."
• Verizon – the American telecommunications company formed in 2000; from veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon. "Verizon was created from the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE."
• Voluntourism – travel combined with voluntary charitable work; from volunteer and tourism. "She spent three weeks on a voluntourism project building schools in rural Cambodia."
• Webinar – an online presentation or workshop; from web and seminar. "The webinar attracted over three thousand participants from thirty countries."
• Wholphin – a rare hybrid of a false killer whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. "Only a handful of wholphins have ever been documented, all in captivity."
• Wikipedia – a free online encyclopaedia edited collaboratively; from wiki (Hawaiian for quick) and encyclopaedia. "Wikipedia has become the first point of reference for millions of people seeking quick information."
• Workaholic – a person who compulsively works excessively; from work and alcoholic. "She was such a workaholic that she answered emails on Christmas Day."
• Yelp – the crowd-sourced review platform founded in 2004; from yellow pages and help. "Before choosing a restaurant, she checked its Yelp reviews going back three years."
• Zonkey – a hybrid of a zebra and a donkey; from zebra and donkey. "A zonkey born in a Mexican zoo in 2013 attracted worldwide media attention."
• Zorse – a hybrid of a zebra and a horse; from zebra and horse. "Like most zebra hybrids, the zorse inherits the zebra's characteristic stripes."

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1. Can you think of any portmanteau words in your own language? How are they formed?
2. Brunch is now a major social ritual in many countries. Do you enjoy brunch? What do you usually eat?
3. Have you ever been approached by a chugger? How did you react?
4. The Chunnel took years of political debate before it was built. Do you think large infrastructure projects like this are worth the cost?
5. Glamping has become a significant industry. Do you think it defeats the purpose of camping, or is it simply a different kind of holiday?
6. Bromance describes a very close male friendship. Do you think men and women express close friendships differently?
7. Mockumentaries like The Office are now a recognised genre. Can you think of any you have watched? What made them work?
8. Bollywood produces more films than Hollywood. Do you know any Bollywood films? How do they differ from films you usually watch?
9. The word muppet has become an insult in British English. Can you think of other words that have shifted meaning in this way?
10. New portmanteaus are invented constantly. Can you invent one of your own to describe something that currently has no single word?

• Wikipedia: List of portmanteaus
• CNET - Antenna implanted in cyborg's skull gets Wi-Fi, color as sound
• Forbes - How Glamping Is Reshaping The Future Of The Luxury Travel Industry
• World Vision - Voluntourism: the good and the bad
• Cambridge.org - Mansplaining, Chillax and Brexit: Blended words in English
• BBC News - Labradoodle creator says it's his 'life's regret'