-(o)nomics, -(o)nomy

[Benjamin Zimmer]

There's a Slate article today about "rockonomics":

-----
http://slate.msn.com/id/2118607/
Among the crowd rushing the stage is Alan Krueger, the Princeton labor
economist who is an expert on the minimum wage and many other things. In a
paper written with Marie Connolly, which managed to cite both singer Paul
Simon and Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker, Krueger set out to
answer some fundamental questions of what he and Connolly call
"rockonomics." (This is not to be confused with Freakonomics, the book
co-written by University of Chicago economists Steven D. Levitt and
Stephen J. Dubner.)
-----

The "-(o)nomics" suffix is nothing new, of course (William Safire claims
to have coined "Nixonomics" in 1969).  As has been noted, the suffix can
appear in one of three forms depending on the final syllable of the root:

Case 1: a root ending in (or consisting of) a stressed syllable takes
_-onomics_ (Fordonomics, Bushonomics, freakonomics, rockonomics)

Case 2: a root ending in an unstressed syllable (other than Case 3 below)
takes _-nomics_ (Carternomics, Thatchernomics, Kerrynomics, cybernomics)

Case 3: a root ending in unstressed or secondarily stressed /-Vn/ takes
_-omics_ (Nixonomics, Reaganomics, Clintonomics, Putinomics, Enronomics)

Interestingly, the Slate article also uses "rockonomy":

-----
In some ways, the rockonomy resembles the increasingly winner-take-all
American economy. The rich are getting richer, and it's good to be the
king or queen of pop. In 1982, the top 1 percent of artists banked 26
percent of ticket revenues; in 2003, they garnered 56 percent.
-----

I haven't noticed the "-(o)nomy" suffix before.  Here are some other
examples off the Web:

-----
http://www.mdcbowen.org/cobb/archives/003625.html
[a critique of Levitt and Dubner's _Freakonomics_ by Michael Bowen]
A 'freakonomy' might be described as a highly indexed and tabulated view
of something of curiosity to the average American, but probably an
unlikely subject in the staid academy.
-----
http://dean4az.blogspot.com/2003/10/bush-bucks.html
I recommend you take a peek at Bush's donor list and remember who is
making Bush's re-appointment bid possible the next time you are going to
spend any money in our Bushonomy.
-----
http://new.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=nloucks&tab=weblogs&uid=65594600
Clinton thought he had the solution but we all know that failed.  How does
John Kerry want to resolve that?  Clintonomy?  I sure hope not.
-----
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2001mar/gee20010330005119.htm
Can the FCC save the techonomy?
-----
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/01/12/14_enronomy.html
George W. Bush believes he can coin new words for the English language, so
I thought I'd give my first shot at this practice with enronomy. Look at
the beauty in the word. Enron is a perfect analogy for the current
economic conditions in this nation.
-----

There are some morphological and prosodic constraints to this suffixation,
since the "on" syllable must receives stress.  It works best with Case 1
above, especially if the root ends in /-k/ (rockonomy, freakonomy,
techonomy, Bushonomy).  It also works, though not quite as well, with Case
3, but only when the root ends in unstressed or secondarily stressed "-on"
(Nixonomy, Clintonomy, Enronomy).  (This requires changing the stress and
also possibly the vowel quality of the root's final syllable, but there's
already the model of "Nixonian", "Clintonian", etc.)  It doesn't seem to
work for other Case 3 roots (*Reaganomy, *Putinomy) or any Case 2 roots
(*Carternomy, *Kerrynomy, *cybernomy).

Am I missing any other possibilities?


--Ben Zimmer