Put the words in the blender. Find strange results Quiz

Answer: channel and tunnel

Before it was built the Channel Tunnel was often referred to as "the Chunnel". Nowadays most people seem to use the full expression "Channel Tunnel". Strange is the behaviour of language.

Answer: Oxbridge

As the oldest English university Oxford was probably made the prefix in the word "Oxbridge" when referring to Oxford and Cambridge collectively. Reversing the order would give "Camford" but, if it ever really existed, this has now slipped totally out of use. An "Oxbridge" graduate has all the advantages of both a good education and a high "snob" value in the market-place.

Answer: "fantastic" and "fabulous"

This new blend word seems almost unnecessary. It only serves its purpose when someone is being rather exaggeratedly enthusiastic. It really adds nothing new in meaning but just redoubles the strength of the two words it is formed from.

Answer: The time in life when people get old and constantly retell stories.

The two words that form this blend are "anecdote" which is a short story and "dotage" which is the onset of senility. Older people are popularly supposed to be in the habit of constantly retelling the same stories to anyone who will listen.

Answer: A mixture of Spanish and English.

This term (usually of contempt) was used to indicate the way in which some forms of Spanish adopted English words without doing anything to make them truly Hispanic. Thus we got "el gasfitter" and others of the same ilk.

Answer: "transfer" and "resistor"

A "transistor" is a small semi-conducting device used to magnify electric currents as previously found in portable radios. Nowadays silicon chips take the same idea and makes the device even smaller.

Answer: sissy

Naturally this word took a long time to get established in the dictionary as it appears to derive partly from slang. Some authorities suggest that the second part might come from "fussy", since that it part of the behaviour suggested by the blended word.

Answer: Japanimation

Blending together "Japan" and "animation" is, of course, the most obvious of these. However, Godzilla is a popular Japanese concept that might eventually require its own name. Remember that I now own the copyright on this word!

Answer: monologue

Nearly all "travelogues" have just one person speaking and thus it is clear that "monologue" is the one that is needed from this family of "logues", as a dictionary will confirm.

Answer: A slow and unintelligent person who wanders along and blocks your way.

It is a blend of "meander" which means to wander aimlessly and "neanderthal" which is a type of primitive man from whom we may be partly descended. The person who coined this word was obviously thinking of those people who seem to proceed aimlessly through shopping centres with no thought to other people's progress.