More for the "bro-" files: "brony"

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 12:02 AM, Neal Whitman wrote:
>
> My son told me about "bronies", i.e. grown male fans of My Little Pony. More
> information at:
> http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/06/bronies-my-little-ponys/
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bronies
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203707504577012141105109140.html

Noted by Larry back in September:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1109C&L=ADS-L&P=R8190

...who suggested it was a "a viable 'least likely to succeed'
candidate" for ADS WOTY. I included it on my WOTY nominee list for its
sheer oddity:

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/3066/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2011/12/18/what-talked-about/a3UP8sPAFziCmRnLIOjtcJ/story.html

See also Erin McKean on brofixing:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2011/12/02/the-secret-language-bros/kd1q6tKQxO15hxMYWQSirO/story.html

> I find the portmanteau "brony" interesting because in words like "bromance"
> (and in most other portmanteau and compound nouns) the second element is the
> head: A bromance is a kind of romance; a motel is a kind of hotel. In
> contrast, a brony is not a kind of pony, but a kind of bro.

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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