Mary Ballard (at Appalachian State University in Boone NC) writes to say that she and some friends (in Boone) have been discussing the word boonerang. An entertaining portmanteau combining Boone and boomerang, with local relevance via this rental cabin called “Boonerang”:
Spacious Mountain Chalet snuggled in a woodsy setting yet minutes to Downtown Boone or Blowing Rock. Less than 10 mins to Tweetsie Railroad, Skiing, Golf, Outlet shopping and more.
You’ll keep coming back to the “Boonerang” Again and Again!
Note the “keep coming back”, and the sign for the place:
Searches on boonerang yield a fair number of misspellings for boomerang, but also some other portmanteaus, probably involving people with Boon or Boone as one of their names: Boonerang Consulting LLC in Baltimore MD, Boonerang Travel in Randolph NJ, Boon Sheridan with the handle “boonerang”, and a ~boonerang (alex) on DeviantArt.
And then on the Verbotomy (“The create-a-word game”) site, this concoction by MrDave2176:
Definition: To get what you wished for, but not exactly what you wanted.
… Sentence: Tom was regretting having received a boonerang as he plummeted to the bottom of the Grand Canyon when all he had wanted was a closer look.
Etymology: boon (a benefit granted) + [boom]erang (the returning weapon)
(Verbotomy has a considerable number of portmanteaus on it: chrysanthenasia (chrysanthemum + euthanasia), Florassic Park, etc. People love to portmanteau playfully.)
July 28, 2011 at 12:42 pm |
The Boonerang is most often used to imply that people who (try) to leave Boone invariably feel a pull back.
July 28, 2011 at 2:12 pm |
Fascinating, though no way to tell from the ghits. So the concept is one shared with Madison, Austin, Chapel Hill, Cambridge, Berkeley, etc., though I don’t know of names for people so attached to these places that they keep coming back. Nice image.