Stories, poems, and nonsense for all moods and conditions.

What do the words 'digerati’, 'quasar’ and 'youthanasia’ have in common? They are all portmanteau words: words that fuse the sounds and combine the meanings of two or more separate words. The term was first used by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass (1871), when Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice some of the unusual words in the poem 'Jabberwocky’. Today such words as 'Oxbridge’ and 'ruckus’ feature in everyday speech, and more portmanteau words are continuously being coined by the media. In this charming little book, Rebecca May presents an A-Z of portmanteau words - some new, some absurd, some widely used - and provides a witty definition and appealing illustration for each word, together with its derivation. Light-hearted but also highly informative, Portmanteau A-Z is a testament to the richness and versatility of English, and will appeal to design and language buffs alike.

"Portmanteau" (a suitcase with equal halves) means two words packed together to convey meanings more precisely, colorfully, vibrantly or whimsically. Over 1,600 blend words are defined, with the root words given for each. Over 600 trademarks are included, with a brief definition and the tradename holder.

You've probably guessed what Electronic is? Right, he's a boy-robot! But the cream of the joke is that, by sheer chance, he turns out to be the live double of a schoolboy, Sergei Cheesekov. They meet and make friends -and immediately fantastic and funny adventures happen to them both. Sergei quickly gains fame as a World Champion runner, an animal-trainer, and an honor pupil at school -but that's enough. Read the book yourselves, and join Sergei and Electronic at a math lesson in a Moscow school, see the circus with them, and visit the cybernetics laboratory of Professor Gromov. Finally, when the cat's out of the bag, and their secret is discovered -join the children who teach Electronic to laugh. Wouldn't it be fun if you had a friend like Electronic?

Billy must eat 15 worms in 15 days to win his bet with Alan and Joe. But Alan and Joe are out to stop him succeeding - by fair means or foul

This is a collection of parodies inspired by Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark'.