Are you getting useful things out of LLMs (AI chatbots)?
I use ChatGPT extensively to help in my literary failures with great success, so much so that I'm a paying customer (Plus tier, 20$/month).
I use projects with specific instructions (a general prompt that is always applied in that project).
The project I use the most serves as a literary Swiss Army knife. In it, I have defined commands to which ChatGPT responds. Examples:
L: <word> = list synonyms for <word>
A: <word> = list antonyms for <word>
R: <word> = explain register of <word>
X: <word> = determine whether X is an idiom or a usual expression in American English or suggest correction
Q: <explanation> = suggest words or common expressions that match <explanation>
Z: <text> = check grammar for text given my rules about what types of issues I want to be flagged - list individual "errors" and suggested corrections
T: <text> = translate Spanish <text> into English
TS: <text> = translate English <text> into Spanish
I: <text> = check the naturalness of <text> in American English given my specific rules about what I want to be flagged - list individual "errors" and suggested corrections
In this project, I open a new chat and use it as a a "shell" until it becomes a little bit slower than usual and I open another one.
I have another project that creates a "dictionary" entry of any word to my specifications. I save these entries and consult them later. If I don't have an entry for a word, I create it. Example:
Portmanteau
PART OF SPEECH
noun
AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION
\ pȯrt-ˈman-(ˌ)tō \
COMMON MEANINGS
- 1. A (now often historical) suitcase or traveling case, especially one that opens into two matching sections.
- 2. A word (or word part) formed by blending the sound/spelling and meaning of two (or more) other words (for example, smog from smoke + fog).
Figurative use: the linguistic sense is inherently
figurative in that it describes a single form that “carries” multiple sources; the luggage sense is
literal.
COMMON SPANISH TRANSLATIONS
- Luggage sense: maleta, maletín, baúl de viaje (context-dependent).
- Linguistics sense: palabra maleta, palabra-fusión, cruce léxico (in more technical contexts), or the loan portmanteau (common in specialized writing).
REGISTER
- Luggage sense: archaic or historical in contemporary general American usage.
- Linguistics sense: technical (linguistics, rhetoric, editing), but also common in educated general prose.
PREPOSITIONS
Notable pattern:
portmanteau of + source words/ideas.
Less common:
portmanteau for + intended function/label,
portmanteau between + two entities.
COLLOCATIONS
- portmanteau word
- a portmanteau of X and Y
- classic portmanteau
- political portmanteau
- brand-name portmanteau
- formed by blending
- coined from (two sources)
NUANCES
- A portmanteau (in the linguistic sense) is typically a blend, not a straightforward compound: it usually merges overlapping sounds or letters rather than simply concatenating whole words.
- In casual usage, portmanteau is sometimes applied loosely to any two-part combination (including some compounds), but in technical usage it more narrowly denotes a blend.
- Many portmanteaus compress meaning for brevity, humor, branding, or political framing, often creating a term whose connotations differ from either source word alone.
EXAMPLES
Meaning 1: luggage
- The traveler packed a portmanteau with shirts and papers for the overnight journey.
- In the museum display, a leather portmanteau opened into two matching compartments.
Meaning 2: blended word
- Brunch is a portmanteau that merges breakfast and lunch.
- The headline used a portmanteau to compress a long policy dispute into a single, memorable label.
- The coinage smog functions as a portmanteau, combining both form and meaning from its sources.
Prepositions
- Portmanteau of: “Brunch is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.”
- Portmanteau for: “The columnist coined a portmanteau for the new trend.”
- Portmanteau between: “The nickname became a portmanteau between two rival factions’ slogans.”
Collocations
- Portmanteau word: “The glossary defines each portmanteau word used in the campaign.”
- A portmanteau of: “The label was a portmanteau of two competing proposals.”
- Classic portmanteau: “Editors often cite brunch as a classic portmanteau.”
- Political portmanteau: “The debate produced a political portmanteau meant to ridicule the opposition.”
- Brand-name portmanteau: “The startup chose a brand-name portmanteau to signal two services at once.”
- Formed by blending: “The neologism was formed by blending the first syllables of both terms.”
- Coined from: “The term was coined from a pair of technical expressions to simplify instruction.”
SYNONYMS
Linguistics sense (register noted)
- blend, word blend (neutral/technical)
- blend word (technical)
- telescoped word (technical, less common)
- Frankenword (informal, playful)
Luggage sense (register noted)
- suitcase (neutral)
- traveling bag, traveling case (neutral)
ANTONYMS
(No single fixed antonym is standard; the following are conceptual contrasts.)
- simple word (neutral)
- unblended form (technical)
- monomorphemic word (technical)
DERIVATIVES
No widely standardized derivatives beyond regular adjectival (attributive) use of
portmanteau (for example,
portmanteau term,
portmanteau label) and the plural forms.
SHARED ROOTS
From French elements meaning
to carry +
cloak/coat, ultimately related to Latin
portare (“carry”) and to
mantle-family forms.
Examples of shared-root relatives in English include
portable,
transport,
import,
export (carry-related family), and
mantle,
mantel (cloak-related family).
COUNT OR NO-COUNT
Count: typically used as a
count noun (for example, “a portmanteau,” “several portmanteaus”).
PLURAL OR SINGULAR
Singular:
portmanteau.
Plural:
portmanteaus or
portmanteaux; pronunciation for the plural commonly appears as \ pȯrt-ˈman-(ˌ)tōz \.
