Inventaholism

Why do we use the suffix -aholic to make up words implying addiction (chocoholic, workaholic), when the “ahol” originates specifically from alcoholic, where the suffix is simply -ic?

Again, speakers tend to make novel utterances predictable, not necessarily logical. It’s correlation, not causation, that produces meaning.

Update: Reader Hunt Anderson emailed with an apt quote from Homer Simpson: “It’s true… I’m a rageaholic! I just can’t live without rageahol!”

(Via Magnetbox.)

★ Friday, 3 August 2007