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I've heard people use phrases like "Google-Fu" when they are trying to combine the ideas of their google skills with a martial art like Kung Fu. e.g. someone might say "my Google-Fu is not that good", when asked to look something up. How would one describe the meaning of these types of word combinations to someone else, in an abbreviated way? Is there a word to describe this kind of pattern?

EDIT: it is not clear to me that these kind of words exactly fit the definition of either portmanteau or snowclone

Bradley Thomas
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    Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/47694/when-did-things-like-fu-start-to-spread –  Jul 15 '16 at 13:05
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    Do you mean like 'sale-a-thon' formed by analogy with 'marathon'? – Mitch Jul 15 '16 at 13:06
  • Yes, Mitch that does seem like a similar pattern – Bradley Thomas Jul 15 '16 at 13:07
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    I would consider it a snowclone--see this thread: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/146725/term-for-words-like-snowmageddon-nipplegate-and-even-cheeseburger/146778#146778 – 1006a Jul 15 '16 at 15:16
  • Are you specifically wanting a translation of this particular phrase, or the general term for the phenomenon? A sample sentence for where the term you're looking for would be used would be helpful. – 1006a Jul 15 '16 at 15:20
  • @nedibes I don't need a translation and there is a sample sentence in the question, thank you – Bradley Thomas Jul 15 '16 at 18:16
  • @BradThomas I meant, do you want a word that could substitute for Google-Fu specifically, or did you want a word that describes the class of cliches that substitute one element while leaving others as a set phrase? I took the sentence in your question as an example of what you meant by Google-Fu, rather than a sentence looking for a word. If you want a straight substitute for Google-Fu, then something like "searching expertise" is appropriate. If you want to describe the phenomenon, then snow-clone or phrasal template would be apropos. – 1006a Jul 15 '16 at 18:20
  • @nedibes Can you post that as an answer, please? – mattdm Jul 17 '16 at 02:51
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    Linguists call this a splinter – Mitch Jul 17 '16 at 04:17

5 Answers5

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These kinds of words are commonly lumped together with all new formulations as neologisms.

Their meaning, in the case of the combinatory neologism, is fundamentally metaphorical: it asks us to understand one thing in the context of another. For example, the word "Google-Fu" asks us to consider one's ability to effectively utilize the Google Search Engine as though it were a martial art, a perhaps more easily understood physical skillset honed over years of practice with connotations of flexibility, finesse, and power.

Because of this metaphorical component, it is also possible to describe these combinatory neologisms as kennings. This is a very old concept in the English language's deep past, deriving from the poetic sensibilities of its Anglo-Saxon speakers - kenning is a metaphorical combination of two concepts for the purpose of emphasizing certain characteristics about what they describe. The stereotypical kenning trotted out from Beowulf would be to describe the sea as a "whale-road" - emphasizing the greatness and alienation of the ocean - it is a large place fit for monsters to travel through, not so much puny hominids in rickety wooden vessels. I personally like to describe Stack Exchange as a wizardry-machine.

Adam Wykes
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  • for reference - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism – user96551 Jul 15 '16 at 17:48
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    Your word-fu is better than mine. – Don Branson Jul 15 '16 at 18:14
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    @DonBranson now if only I could convince publishers of that... – Adam Wykes Jul 15 '16 at 18:16
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    Heh. When you, do, recommend my novel to them. :) – Don Branson Jul 15 '16 at 18:18
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    Sure it's a neologism. Any "new word" is a neologism. the OP is quite obviously asking about the case where you swap part of the word. It has absolutely n connection to "combinations". It's simply (humorously, let's say) swapping one part for another part. Ferrari becomes Fur-ari, airplane becomes hair-plane, etc, or the examples given by the OP. – Fattie Jul 16 '16 at 17:02
  • What part of swapping is not combinatorial to you? – Adam Wykes Jul 16 '16 at 17:11
  • I would argue that this is not a case of kenning, because, if it were so, Google-fu would have something to do both with Google and kung-fu, which it clearly doesn't; In this case, -fu acts as a derivational suffix. – errantlinguist Jul 17 '16 at 12:15
  • @errantlinguist except that as I clearly laid out in my answer, the meaning of google-fu clearly does involve the meanings of its components. – Adam Wykes Jul 17 '16 at 14:51
  • @AdamWykes: Smog shares properties of both smoke and fog; How does Google-fu share properties of both Google and kung-fu?-- At least I personally don't think of martial arts at all when I hear Google-fu. I see your point, but I feel it is a very "weak" link (one which only occurs when people "actively" think about the word's composition). – errantlinguist Jul 17 '16 at 19:27
  • @AdamWykes, I'm not familiar with the term, but Wikipedia has very explicit information about the structure of said kennings; It may be possible that a kenning be created which uses a suffix, meaning that our answers aren't in fact mutually incompatible (yours is semantic while mine is morphosyntactic), but I don't know enough about this to be certain. – errantlinguist Jul 17 '16 at 19:40
  • @errantlinguist looking over the rules at wikipedia for kennings, it would seem to fairly obvious that Google is the noun, fu the modifying term, neither of which is the referent in itself; whereas in colloquial English Google may be a noun or a verb, and fu means skill, so the kenning of Google-skill refers to the specific ability to search. I think this sense gains support when we consider that the phrase would be accepted without question if used to describe a search that might or might not have actually involved Google search services. – Adam Wykes Jul 17 '16 at 21:16
  • @errantlinguist as to whether people think of what word structures mean when they speak them, I would point out that few people probably ken the difference in connotation between monarchy and dictatorship, but one is more forgiving than the other, and it has to do with the origins and usage of their separate morphemes. In the case of Google-fu, I would ask you not to consider what you think when you speak it, but rather what was the person who coined it likely thinking. – Adam Wykes Jul 17 '16 at 21:24
  • @AdamWykes: Okay, fair enough. I know hardly anything about kennings anyway (I've only heard about them directly in reference to Norse sagas). – errantlinguist Jul 19 '16 at 08:03
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I've never even been to this end of SE but as I'm here I'll drop in the rather more obvious and probably equally improper portmanteau and be off.

(also portmanteau word) A word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel or brunch

[Oxford Online Dictionary]

NikLP
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    Hello, NikLP. Your answer was flagged automatically as low-quality for its length and content. I edited your post and please take a look. We encourage an answer with a dictionary definition and proper reference. –  Jul 15 '16 at 17:22
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    Well thank you kindly. I actually enjoyed the other answers more, but if this one's getting traction, that works nicely for the fragile part of my ego. – NikLP Jul 15 '16 at 21:07
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    I'm not sure it's a portmanteau. Blending breakfast and lunch to make brunch, is totally different from the common and obvious thing the OP asks about (*swapping* one part humorously to something else .. sophomore becomes sopho-bore, etc.) – Fattie Jul 16 '16 at 17:05
  • @JoeBlow Agreed, a portmanteau would be something like "My GooFu is the real deal" – xyz Jul 17 '16 at 04:41
  • @JoeBlow, you are correct: The individual "parts" of a portmanteau more often do not correspond to any morphological segments and are instead typically done on a phonological level (cf. Bennifer, Brangelina or Brexit). Instead, in this case, -fu acts as a derivational suffix. – errantlinguist Jul 17 '16 at 12:25
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A blend:

  • (Linguistics) A word produced by combining parts of other words, as smog from smoke and fog.

(AHD)

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    I don't see it as a blend, Josh. It's taking an existing word, and, swapping part of that word. (Example "Josh" becomes "B-osh", "Super-Osh" or the like.) – Fattie Jul 16 '16 at 16:59
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It’s just a coinage, like any other coined phrase. The fact of it being IMHO a particularly clever one doesn’t merit a separate term for it.

“Coinage” per OED:

  1. The invention of a new word or phrase.

    Example sentences:

    • His learned coinage of the phrase fides levata – a convincing but altogether fictional Latin term – would contribute to the overwhelming success of Panofsky's account.
    • Gould has written many times about his coinage of the term ‘symphonette.’
    • Not only is the phrase versus populum of very late coinage; it does not mean what its champions claim it does.

Though the very short definition seems somewhat overbroad in this case, I believe the provided examples show ‘coinage’ (or, perhaps more properly, ‘coined phrase’, although this seems overly pedantic to me) to be the proper term.

N.B. My source for the OED definition, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/pun, incorrectly uses hyphens in the first sample sentence instead of em dashes. I have corrected this here.

macraf
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John Smith
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    Welcome to ELU! The link doesn't seem to go to the OED definition for "coinage" (which is available online at the preceding link, if you have a subscription) but to the Oxford Dictionaries online definition for "pun." The OED is a separate dictionary. I think you meant to link to the Oxford Dictionaries online definition for "coinage": http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/coinage – herisson Jul 17 '16 at 03:43
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This is a specific case of morphological derivation whereby -fu (obviously originally from the loanword kung-fu) has been interpreted in (contemporary) English as a suffix denoting the meaning roughly "ability/competence in doing something", e.g.

  • Google-fu → "ability to Google (well)"
  • repair-fu → "ability to repair (well)"

As you can see here, the suffix is fully productive, i.e. it is able to form nonce words (e.g. StackExchange-fu), some of which may become established words in English as it is broadly spoken.

Analogy: -(d)ar

An analogous example of this phenomenon can be seen in the suffix -(d)ar, which originated from radar and — probably with help from the word sonar, which has a very similar meaning in addition to sounding similar — became productive in meaning something like "ability to detect something": The most common example of its productivity is gaydar, but the form is fully-productive due to the fact that e.g. sarcasmdar and morphemedar are perfectly acceptable as English words.

errantlinguist
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    How do you get from fu to competence? – Adam Wykes Jul 17 '16 at 14:49
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    Probably through this guy, but I honestly don't know... I only know that it works. – errantlinguist Jul 17 '16 at 19:23
  • Yeah, but really I think if you took my question seriously you might learn something, or I might. – Adam Wykes Jul 17 '16 at 21:01
  • I'm guessing it's because martial arts take more effort and practice to achieve results with. e.g. if we try the reverse, e.g. imagine describing a level of competence in the martial art by comparing with the ability to do online search, Kung Google for example (or even Google-Fu as well)... that so bad it's humorous. I think it rests on the perception of Googling being vastly easier to master than Kung-Fu – Bradley Thomas Jul 18 '16 at 13:40