Portmanteaus and More

A portmanteau (port-man-TOE) is a word that comes from the French and has a literal meaning and a figurative meaning. Literally, a portmanteau is a suitcase or trunk, usually made of leather and opening into two identical parts. Figuratively, a portmanteau is a word made from two (or more) other words. For example, one of the earliest portmanteaus is “smog,” which is made up of smoke + fog. Just like you have to unpack a suitcase, you have to unpack a portmanteau word to see what two or more words it is made from. The two halves of the luggage fold into one piece. The parts of a portmanteau word fold into one word.
We are seeing more and more portmanteaus in every day life now, and most of them are a lot of fun. When possible, I have tried to educate the reader. Some of these portmanteaus you will know, some you will not know, and some you knew but just did not realize where they came from. I hope you enjoy these.

When I found out my last name Smith was the most common surname (last name) in the English language and that it came from the fact that at least one of my ancestors was a blacksmith (Smith is obviously a shortened form of blacksmith), I found that very interesting and started thinking about other names and researching them. Furthermore, in the Middle Ages, if your name was John and you were a blacksmith, for example, you would be known as John the smith. Eventually it became an actual last name. By the way, in Germany, it is Schmidt. In Italy, it is Ferraro, from “ferro,” Italian for “iron.”

A palindrome can be a word, phrase, sentence, or number. It reads the same forward or backward. An example of a palindromic word is level. An example of a palindromic phrase is “a man, a plan, a canal--Panama.” An example of a palindromic sentence is “Step on no pets.” The last time a year was a palindrome was 2002 and before that 1991. Can you figure out the next one?
Other examples of palindromic numbers are 1441 and 555. If you take any number, reverse the digits, and add the two numbers, eventually you will get a palindromic number! It could take one time or fifty or more times, but it will happen if you do not make any mistakes. So be careful when you try this. To begin with, just try a three-digit or four-digit number. Nevertheless, it works for all numbers.