Tagphrase

Two brothers were talking about an old commercial, and one said “Oh yes, I remember that tagphrase.” This is a word blend congruent conflation of “catch phrase” and “tag line”, both referring to a sentence or phrase reiterated and identified with a person or company. Single word blend malaphors are unconscious blends of words to make an unintentional new word. The word sounds or looks correct at first blush, but then on closer examination is incorrect. Examples include “Buckminster Palace” (Buckingham and Westminster, and/or possibly Buckminster Fuller) and “split-minute decision” (split second and last minute). Read my book, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors“, to understand the difference between a word blend malaphor and a portmanteau.

A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for unintentionally uttering this one and promptly sending it in!