Today we have a French word that has made its way into the English vernacular. It is
portmanteau.

A portmanteau is a word that is formed by combining two words and their meanings. For example podcast is a portmanteau. It is the combination of the words iPod & broadcast.

Other well know portmanteau’s are camcorder- camera and recorder, smog- smoke and fog and spork- spoon and fork. The Chunnel is an example of portmanteau that is a proper name.

For today’s word we turn to a special guest Brian, host and producer of
Coverville. Given that clue I bet you can guess today’s word is cover. Let’s skip the common definition and go straight to the podcast community’s resident expert on covers.

Brian’s definition:

Any song that was performed and released by one artist or group, and then was subsequently released or performed and recorded by another artist or group. I also include a song that was released by the same artist, but performed with a different arrangement or style.

Yes, the song Happy Birthday is is protected by copyright.

If you are interested in recording cover songs check out songstuff.com’s article.

I must apologize for an oversight in my January 24th podcast. Fortunately Amy of blog.contentious.com pointed it out to me. It is pun or play on words. In Contentious Amy writes mainly about issues of content and communication. Hence, her own neologism: contentious meaning full of or related to content. I feel pretty foolish that I didn’t spot that one.

Also, I wanted to mention Amy is podcasting from Boulder, Colorado, my hometown. Which I think is home to several other podcasters:

• Me
• 
  Brian of Coverville.com
• 
  Brandon Fuller (Last podcast was in December)

Today’s word is totally unrelated. It is a word we all know and despise but its etymology is very interesting. The word is disaster. A noun meaning a total failure or a catastrophe.

Now the etymology was pointed out to me by one of my favorite authors Neal Stephenson. He mentions the etymology in the book Snow Crash. Disaster could almost be literal translated from the latin or greek as bad star. The dis- part can mean wrong or not as in disease or disappear. And the -aster part means star as in astronaut, aster (the flower) or more appropriate for today’s word astrology- the “study” of the stars. I presume this word has migrated over the centuries from “bad sign” or “bad luck” to its current definition.

Orthogonal, now this is a word I have owed you for awhile.

I have been trying to formulate a complete description of this word, but I have failed so I can only give you the lay definition. Orthogonal is an adjective that describes independent, unrelated variables or elements. For example “I know this is orthogonal to the discussion but…”

Now there are several other meanings and used of orthogonal most notably in mathematics and computer programing. I don’t have the expertise to expound on these so I have posted some links for more thorough definitions.

• Orthogonal Trajectories
• Mathematics- General


• Othongonal groups
  
• Orthogonal polynomials
  
• Orthogonal matrix
• Computer science

Today’s word, psychosomatic, is a suggestion posted at TodaysPodcast.com. In fact the poster, Tim, was kind enough to include the definition too.

It is an adjective of or relating to a disorder having physical symptoms but originating from mental or emotional causes. Or relating to or concerned with the influence of the mind on the body, and the body on the mind.

I want to point out psychosomatic is not the same as hypocondria. A hypochondriac is someone who thinks they are ill. A psychosomatic is someone who is sick and the cause is mental such as stress. Butterflies in your stomach is a perfect example of a psychosomatic symptom and a good example of an idiom too.