Talk:Fallen flag
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[edit] Term origin
Where does the term "Fallen flag" come from? --User:Steffen M. (de.wikipedia.org), 2005-02-13
- Just a guess, but I always thought it referred to flag bearers in military regiments. I read somewhere that during the American Civil War, the flag bearers and the drum boys were usually the first soldiers to be targeted in battle in an effort to demoralize the opposing army. slambo 14:11, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Portmanteau
"The latter example is a portmanteau of the two names, using part of each."
Does this relate to the BNSF merger mentioned in the parenthesis? Also, wouldn't it be an acronym rather than a portmenteau?
I removed this line, it didn't make any sense to me whatsoever.
(Above comments were unsigned by anon editor at 128.227.191.106)
- Burlington Northern Santa Fe is a portmanteau of "Burlington Northern" and "Santa Fe", while "BNSF" is an acronym of the portmanteau. The wording was a little klunky. slambo 10:55, Apr 23, 2005 (UTC)
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, together, are not a portmanteau. Frankly, they are not much of anything. A portmanteau is a blend: a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings; "`smog' is a blend of `smoke' and `fog'"; "`motel' is a portmanteau word made by combining `motor' and `hotel'"; "`brunch' is a well-known portmanteau" (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). "Burlington Northern Santa Fe" is simply a long proper noun.
