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Wikipedia Is Not Amused By Entry For xkcd-Coined Word
ObsessiveMathsFreak writes "Today's xkcd comic introduced an unusual word — malamanteau — by giving its supposed definition on Wikipedia. The only trouble is that the word (as well as its supposed wiki page) did not in fact exist. Naturally, much ado ensued at the supposed wiki page, which was swiftly created in response to the comic. This article has more on how the comic and the confusion it caused have put the Net in a tizzy. It turns out that a malamanteau is a portmanteau of portmanteau and malapropism, but also a malapropism of portmanteau. All this puts Wikipedia in the confusing position of not allowing a page for an undefined word whose meaning is defined via the Wikipedia page for that word — and now I have to lie down for a moment."
It's just a strange word that people don't normally use yet every such wiki page is prominently labeled and wikified in the introduction. This particular word has bugged me for years. It is pretentious and out of place even though it is correctly used. I don't have a problem w/ the parallel word "acronym" when it is used correctly, but that's because normal people actually USE the word.
(I was similarly rankled recently, but nowhere to the same degree, by an article that described a fictional character as a "gynoid". WTF? It's supposedly the feminine form of "android". Ok... gender warriors... you keep on fighting the good fight...)