Frienemies

TG told me a story this morning (that I respectfully will not repeat, it's not my story to tell), and coined this fabulous word. A frienemy is someone who acts like your friend to your face but really is not. It's the short way of saying "keep your friends close but your enemies closer." I love portmanteau words. Like frankenword, which is a portmanteau to describe a portmanteau!

When portmanteau words are actually frankenames, it's more derogatory (think Tomkat, Brangelina, or Billary). Though, frienemy isn't exactly a kind term either, though I'd sooner call those people pretenders.

I never took French, so I can't tell you what a portmanteau was before it started describing this kind of evolution of language. Look at that! A whole blog post (and I think blog, web + log, is a frankenword too) about words! Yes, I am a language geek.

And remember, you don't need friends when you can have frienemies!

PS: Fox, who is not a frienemy, told me about a new ice cream by the infamous Ben & Jerry: Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road! Sounds luscious! I hope it's enough of a hit that they market it outside of Vermont eventually. Mmmm brickle.....