Well, in the case of that XF series -- and I don't remember how many stories it was, but it was a lot more than I read -- there was, um. How to say this in a not-silly way? People had a bad habit of turning into ogres and ghouls and warlocks. In a textually (but not extratextually) not-silly way. So they were very busy with other things, and did indeed not seem to give a shit about their wives, sisters, daughters, etc.
It was a very peculiar psychological portrait of the victim-kink, nested in the middle of one of the most ridiculous plot scenarios I've come across. (That includes the "Mulder and Scully fight mastodons" scenario, as well as that Sentinel story that involves evil hyperevolved cat overlords.)
Oh, I know which story you're talking about. Ick.
involves evil hyperevolved cat overlords
Eh, I can kind of see that.
that Sentinel story that involves evil hyperevolved cat overlords.
With The Sentinel that's a less improbable plotline than it would be in most other fandoms.
This seems most appropos here. From a CNN article about "Brangelina":
Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television, said the coupling of A-list stars like Pitt and Jolie -- or in years gone by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton -- was "a paparazzi's dream come true."
"As silly as it sounds, this new tendency to make up single names for two people -- like 'Bennifer' (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) and 'TomKat' (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) -- is an insightful idea. 'Brangelina' has more cultural equity than their two star parts," he said.
a) It's called a portmanteau. Duh.
b) "cultural equity"?
c) Still no excuse for "Spuffy".
Grrr.
"an insightful idea"? The hell?
What are the greatest hits of bad portmanteaux? Come on, do your worst.
We can assemble the whole list, as well as links to Portmanteau Kerfuffles # 1001, 1425, and 33,548 and send them to Thompson.
And ask him to use the word "kerfuffle" next time.
It's hard to top Spuffy and LoVe. I'm not particularly fond of any of the McKay/anyone ones, like McShep, McBeckett, etc. And I may have hallucinated this, but I think I saw people calling Sheppard/Weir "Shweir."
I do have to say that I find the portmanteau's a little bit easier to decipher than the Roswell Designations (Candy, etc), but perhaps because I just started reading Roswell last year and so wasn't around when they were created.
Also, every time I see LoVe (which is a lot because I am devouring that fandom now) I get the title theme to The Love Boat stuck in my head!
McShep,
See, that works for me because it seems more like just a shorthand and less like trying to create a cute new word. Those are the ones that get me.
