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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/20640
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/20640
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In advance of the recent blizzard which struck the East Coast of the U.S., many media outlets were trying to coin a catchy name to describe the event (mainly to hashtag it on social media, let’s be honest).

What struck me was that no one name really caught on — people were using repeats from previous years, like Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse; Slate tried desperately to make “David Snowie” work; The Weather Channel labeled it “Jonas”; and there was a lot of defaulting to “blizzard2016.”

Putting parts of two words together to create something new is called a _portmanteau,_ from the French word for “suitcase”; it's also known as a name smush or a ship name. The modern, culturally relevant version started with celebrity pairings (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were the original _Bennifer_) and has exploded from there, especially names for fictional "ships" (romantic relationships which are discussed or imagined for TV or movie characters) and any brouhaha which can be combined with "-gate" (from the Watergate Hotel, the scene of a break-in which started the scandal which toppled U.S. President Nixon). No single portmanteau for this storm became popular, which makes me wonder if it was because no one could figure out a good new one.

**What are the criteria for a good portmanteau?** What aspects should you think about when trying to coin such a term? What makes "Snowmaggedon" and "Brangelina" and "Johnlock" work but not "BeyonZ"?

Original score: 2