Advertorial

[Dr. Goodword]

• advertorial •

Pronunciation: æd-vêr-to-ri-êl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. An advertisement disguised as an ordinary newspaper article or editorial. 2. An editorial intentionally favoring a company or corporate organization.

Notes: When they first began to appear in newspapers and magazines, advertorials were distinguished only by the word advertorial or advertisement in very small letters at the top of the advertorial. The television equivalent is infomercial, a long advertisement disguised as a regular TV program.

In Play: Some companies use advertorials in their in-house magazines in a manner that is not deceptive: "Since Jean is responsible for the advertorial in the company magazine, her staff refers to her as the advereditor." Metaphorical applications are available: "Benedict is a walking advertorial for Volvo cars; you would think he receives a commission on every sale."

Word History: A common misconception about language is that blending, simply smushing two words together. is a legitimate way of creating new words. In fact, it is rare outside English and not all that common in English. Although a few blends, such as smog from smoke + fog and motel from motor + hotel have survived and entered the general vocabulary, most do not. Most blends today are generated by marketers. Three that have emerged in recent years are infomercial, infotainment, and today's word.

[George Kovac]

Dr Goodword wrote

A common misconception about language is that blending, simply smushing two words together is a legitimate way of creating new words. In fact, it is rare outside English and not all that common in English.

Here may be an example in Russian of simply smushing two words together to create a new (and very funny) word:

In the countries of the former Soviet Union there is a despised type of cheap apartment building that was first developed in the 1960s. These buildings are locally known by the derogatory term “Khrushchoba”. I saw many examples of this dreary housing in Kyiv when I lived there years ago. I do not speak Russian, but my Ukrainian colleagues told me that the word was invented by combining the first syllable of “Khrushchev” with the Russian word “Хрущоба (Hruščoba)”, so that the resulting word (which does slip delightfully off the tongue) means, literally “Khru-slum.” Perhaps the good Dr. Goodword can confirm this etymology.

[Slava]

There is also the oh so evocative "дермократиа" (dyermokratia), taking a crude word for excrement, дермо, and using it to replace demo in democracy. I'm pretty sure you can come up with your own translation.

[bbeeton]

"Smush" is a delightful word, but it seems not to have been addressed yet. Please consider doing so, dear Doctor.

One of my favorite smushed words is "mizzle", a not-quite drizzle. (Do we need an umbrella or not? But do check the temperature -- if it's just below freezing, you may want to put on crampons to avoid the inevitable, and invisible, glare ice, or you may end up needing a new hip.)

[David Myer]

My favourite in English, is angered.

When travelling by car, my four year-old in the back called out "Look at that!" because he had seen something of interest. We all said, "Where? Where?" and he responded "Too late. We have angered it". We presume he just smushed 'passed' and 'missed'