Saturday, September 15, 2007

funny/not funny

funny: the combination of the words "man" and "sandal" to form the hybrid word "mandal", meaning a derisive term directed toward men's sandals.

why it's funny: because in the combining of the two words, the essential phonetic identity of each word is preserved.

not funny: the combination of the words "man" and "nurse" or "man" and "purse" to form the hybrid word "murse", meaning either a derisive term directed toward male nurses or men's handbags.

why it's not funny: the phonetic structure of the word "man" is abandoned, and isn't adequately conveyed by simply replacing the first letter of any noun with "m." It's lame.

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