"Chortle," a Blend

       My poet friend has sent me a new poem he's written as he's done through the years.  It contains the phrase "a chortle of children." I liked the sound of it, but paused over whether it was quite right in the poem.

       Lewis Carroll coined the word "chortle," apparently out of "chuckle" and "snort."  Every time I see the word, I try a chuckle, then a snort, then fancy a sound that would be a combination of the two.   I have trouble making that sound without a wry or derisive cast to it.

       Carroll's words are "O frabjous day!  Callooh!  Callay!  He chortled in his joy."  And my friend's line and context suggest joy and enthusiasm as well; so perhaps that's Carroll's intention.

       But the "snort" in there always takes me to a slightly different place with a subversive undertone!