portmanteau / lewis carroll

‘that’s enough to begin with’, humpty dumpty interrupted: ‘there are plenty of hard words there. “brillig” means four o’clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.’

‘that’ll do very well’, said alice: ‘and “slithy”?’

‘well, “slithy” means “lithe and slimy”. “lithe” is the same as “active”. you see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.’

February 10, 2012 / Posted in words

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