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What's in a name?

Posted on August 31, 2006 by Kathryn Regina.

Here at BeTuitive, we get a lot of questions about our name. Formed from the words “be intuitive,” BeTuitive is a neologism created to signify the possibilities of “intuitively” understanding our client's customers needs and inclinations through targeted content and tracking analysis.

I recently learned that the word “portmanteau” is the linguistic term for blending the parts of two words (generally the first part of one word and the ending of a second word) to combine their meanings. Popular examples are Nabisco (National Biscuit Company), Internet (internation/interglobal/interchanged and network), smog (smoke and fog) and brunch (breakfast and lunch). Even the word alphabet is a portmanteau of alpha and beta.

Portmanteaus are effective for branding because they allow a business to create new concepts through an innovation of language. That, and they’re catchy. Just think of the media’s obsession with endless celebrity couple portmanteaus like “Bennifer” (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez), “Brangelina” (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) and “Billary" (Bill and Hillary Clinton).

Portmanteau on Wikipedia

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August 31, 2006 in award winning design | Permalink

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