Total is absolutely French. The fuel company did not take an English name! The « to » in the French total is pronounced exactly like the « teau » in porte-manteau. (Unlike « tout », of course.)
You made me realize that the word porte-manteau was indeed butchered into portmanteau, which is supposed to sound French if you pronounce it in English. That's just another level of silliness to me…
> The « to » in the French total is pronounced exactly like the « teau » in porte-manteau. (Unlike « tout », of course.)
Yes, that is why I referred to one change in vowel sound:
> Also, 'portmantout' (not, I think, 'portemantout', since the original is 'portmanteau') involves only one change in vowel sound, right, not any major shift in pronunciation?
(In fact I think it is not a bad thing if different words, even with common derivations, sound different.)
> You made me realize that the word porte-manteau was indeed butchered into portmanteau, which is supposed to sound French if you pronounce it in English.
As Fishkins (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18589920) points out, it is 'portmanteau' ('port' + 'manteau'), not 'portemanteau' ('porte' + 'manteau'). The fact that English speakers sound the 't' in 'port' is not, I think, the fault of the word!
As I answered Fishkins, « porte » in this context does mean carry (even though it could mean door, but that doesn't make any sense with porte-manteau).
My argument that portemantout/portmantout sounds weird is partly an aesthetic one: technically the change of vowel sound is sufficient to hear the difference, but when I say the french word out loud, it just sounds weird.
I guess in English if you're saying portmanteau/portemanteau (sorry I'm gonna keep writing both, the official English one is too annoying!) you're already going out of common English pronounciation and the short “oo” at the end does kind of push the message across.
In French it's a very mundane word, and only changing the last vowel sounds either like a mistake or… like it's trying too hard to be cutesy. (I guess you kind of have to really exaggerate that very slight « ou », and… then it's merely subjective.)
On the other hand, I suggested the alternative « total » because instead of changing the vowel, it adds an extra syllable to clarify the juxtaposition, and it simply sounds better in French. Admittedly, it doesn't sound particularly good in English, and it's really not an important debate to begin with, so I'll leave it at that.
edit: corrected a justification based on the idea that portmantout is not a portmanteau/portemanteau, because it is. also I reduced the number of times I wrote “just” because it was getting out of hand. dang I feel like I'm writing a commit message…
You made me realize that the word porte-manteau was indeed butchered into portmanteau, which is supposed to sound French if you pronounce it in English. That's just another level of silliness to me…