Malamanteau

A malamanteau is a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism. It is itself a portmanteau of malapropism and portmanteau. Malamanteaux have also been defined as erroneous and unintentional portmanteaux.
The word was popularized by former NASA roboticist Randall Munroe in a May 11, 2010 xkcd comic strip which featured a facsimile of an invented entry for "malamanteau" reading "A malamanteau is a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism. It is itself a portmanteau of..."
Shortly thereafter, an entry for "malamanteau" was created on the English , mirroring the strip's language. Editors from the encyclopedia disputed whether the word deserved an entry and the article was repeatedly deleted and recreated before being listed for discussion on a noticeboard. The incident was picked up by various media and the 19,000 word debate over whether malamanteau was a word and whether it met was reported on many blogs. On May 12 the word appeared on the Google Trends top 10 list. Urban Dictionary lists as one of its definitions of malamanteau "A word defined to infuriate editors."
Later that month, lexicographer Erin McKean wrote "One-day wonder", an article about the word, for The Boston Globe. In the article, she lists "insinuendos", "bewilderness", and the Bushism "misunderestimated" as malamanteaux.
Sarah Palin coined a malamanteau that summer with her use of "refudiate", combining the words refute and repudiate. The word was chosen as new word of the year for 2010 by New Oxford American Dictionary, with the statement "From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used 'refudiate,' we have concluded that neither 'refute' nor 'repudiate' seems consistently precise, and that 'refudiate' more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of 'reject.'"
Malamanteaux have been the topic of discussion on Language Log, a collaborative language blog maintained by phonetician Mark Liberman.

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