Like an infix, but...

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 10:14 AM, Mark Peters wrote:
>
> What do you call a mid-word substitution like a-stock-alypse,
> a-crap-alypse, or ar-meh-geddon?
>
> Is this just another form of infix? I need a terminology infusion
> here... Appreciate any help.

John Algeo, following Harold Wentworth, called such inserted blends "sandwich
words."  I discussed the phenomenon in my 1/24/06 Language Log post "Blawgs,
phonolawgically speaking":

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002780.html


--Ben Zimmer

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