Unpacking the Portmanteau: Megxit’s Implicit Racist Ideology

Abstract

In this essay, we demonstrate the portmanteau’s value as an analytical tool for rhetorical study. We use the portmanteau Megxit as a case study to illustrate how the form of the portmanteau shapes how ideological arguments are presented and received. While portmanteaus are common, particularly in informal speech, we suggest that they can force conceptual associations between source terms that may not otherwise exist. Most importantly, portmanteaus present conceptual associations in a playful and innocuous way, making the portmanteau an ideal form to disguise hateful speech and transmit ideology in a media-friendly package. To demonstrate the ideological work of the portmanteau, we analyze examples of “Megxit” that implicitly evoke race. In doing so, we argue that popular neologisms are a key way that race is materialized in online discourse.

Keywords:

• Ideology
• implicit racism
• megxit
• portmanteau
• rhetorical criticism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. “GRExit,” a play on the original Grexit, refers to the movement away from using the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for consideration in graduate school admissions decisions. The criticism of the GRE is rooted in accusations of racial and class bias in the exam (Langin, 2022).

2. Here we extend Wodak and Angouri’s (2014) analysis of Grexit discourses as a struggle over the legitimacy of the Eurozone.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Fisher Center for Gender and Justice [Faculty Research Fellowship 2021].

Notes on contributors

Star Medzerian Vanguri

Star Medzerian Vanguri Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts at Nova Southeastern University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in writing and rhetoric. She is editor of Rhetorics of Names and Naming (Routledge, 2016) and co-editor of Style and the Future of Composition Studies (Utah State University Press, 2020) and The Centrality of Style (WAC Clearinghouse/Parlor Press, 2013). Her work has also appeared in Rhetoric Review and the Journal of Writing Research. Her scholarly interests include rhetorical criticism, style, and onomastics.

Maggie M Werner

Maggie M Werner Ph.D., is Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, specializing in rhetorical criticism and sexual rhetorics. Her monograph, Stripped: Reading the Erotic Body was published by Penn State UP in 2020, and her research also has been published in Feminist Formations, Rhetoric Review, Composition Studies, Present Tense, and the collection Peace and Social Justice Education on Campus. She teaches writing and rhetorical criticism, focusing particularly on analysis, argumentation, and style.