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megthelegend I owe the great honor of inspiring this post on the deep and thorny issue of the "name smush."
But the mix-and-match nature of these creations can result in names which are linguistically awkward or seen as unaesthetically pleasing. As a result, portmanteaus have been received among fans with reluctance, reactions running the gamut from “flattering” or “hilarious” to “weird” and “downright unappealing “ (Pairing names and mash-ups).
Yet these arguments ignore the inherently transgressive nature of the portmanteau. The portmanteau by its very nature breaks down the heteronormative barriers which use of the slash reinforces. In its formal use, the slash is “used to avoid taking a position in a naming controversy, allowing the juxtaposition of both names without stating a preference” ( Slash (punctuation)). The slash’s emphasis on maintaining the original integrity of the names is a subliminal expression and reinforcement of a character’s presumably heterosexual canon identification. The slashseparates characters into two distinct entities, interpretation of whom can never escape their confined heterosexual textual origins.
In comparison, smushing places the emphasis on the emotional, and frequently romantic, connection between characters as read by fans in a given work’s subtext. This closeness and emotional connection is then illustrated by hot penetrative gay sex, itself the ultimate ‘smush.’ As such, this is represented by the names’ linguistic penetration of each other. The creation of a portmanteau represents at its purest the orgasmic blending of the characters' feelings, naturalizing their same-gender attractions.
Given the sometimes contentious nature of fandom, these two preferences are sure to have their day. One side may attempt assert its dominance, but such non-consensual advances are sure to leave their opponent tied down with their own word. One can only hope one day both sides can come together over their mutual interest in men and women bonking each other.
Pst: If you haven't guessed it already, this is in fact a huge pile o' bullshit!
megthelegend I owe the great honor of inspiring this post on the deep and thorny issue of the "name smush."”Seriously, you can type up a 10,000 word story, but you can't be arsed to spell out the pairing? Those extra dozen key strokes are going to do you in?” (Just when you thought portmanteau pairing names couldn't get any more obnoxious...)So thefannishwaldo bemoaned in the online community Fanficrants, yet another fan caught between their own fannish past as a slash-user and the brave new world of the portmanteau. As thefannishwaldo goes on to note, the portmanteau is itself a fairly new concept in fandom. Though the designation’s exact origin has yet to be extensively documented, a fannish ‘ship portmanteau is created by “created…by smushing the characters names together,” according to authoritative resource Fandom History. Colloquially known as the “pairing name smush,” the portmanteau has so caught on in younger fandoms that one is listed as having 18 different ‘ship portmanteaus (Smallville pairing terminology).
But the mix-and-match nature of these creations can result in names which are linguistically awkward or seen as unaesthetically pleasing. As a result, portmanteaus have been received among fans with reluctance, reactions running the gamut from “flattering” or “hilarious” to “weird” and “downright unappealing “ (Pairing names and mash-ups).
Yet these arguments ignore the inherently transgressive nature of the portmanteau. The portmanteau by its very nature breaks down the heteronormative barriers which use of the slash reinforces. In its formal use, the slash is “used to avoid taking a position in a naming controversy, allowing the juxtaposition of both names without stating a preference” ( Slash (punctuation)). The slash’s emphasis on maintaining the original integrity of the names is a subliminal expression and reinforcement of a character’s presumably heterosexual canon identification. The slashseparates characters into two distinct entities, interpretation of whom can never escape their confined heterosexual textual origins.
In comparison, smushing places the emphasis on the emotional, and frequently romantic, connection between characters as read by fans in a given work’s subtext. This closeness and emotional connection is then illustrated by hot penetrative gay sex, itself the ultimate ‘smush.’ As such, this is represented by the names’ linguistic penetration of each other. The creation of a portmanteau represents at its purest the orgasmic blending of the characters' feelings, naturalizing their same-gender attractions.
Given the sometimes contentious nature of fandom, these two preferences are sure to have their day. One side may attempt assert its dominance, but such non-consensual advances are sure to leave their opponent tied down with their own word. One can only hope one day both sides can come together over their mutual interest in men and women bonking each other.
Pst: If you haven't guessed it already, this is in fact a huge pile o' bullshit!
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And now I can't unsee it...
That's about how I treat name smushes (I can't call them pormanteaus, even if it linguistically correct - makes them sound far too exotic and Latin).