Attention, Shopptainees!

One of the more ridiculous trends of the late 20th century is “grammartainment,” the senseless merging of innocent words with the last eight letters of “entertainment” to form such hybrids as “edutainment,” “infotainment” and “eatertainment.”

The latest crossbreeder is the city of Orange, which recently hoisted a green street sign outside the Block mall that reads: Shoppertainment Way. At first we assumed there was a logical explanation, such as a typographical error. Or maybe even that Shoppertainment was the surname of a city founder.

But when we investigated, officials at the Mills Corp., which owns the Block, not only admitted coining the word, but also boasted that they had it trademarked. “It really connotes the combination of retail and entertainment inside the same four walls,” said Mills chairman Larry Siegel.

Apparently the same cannot be said for the street’s former name, Justice Center Way. City spokesman Hamid Bahadori explained: “This is an entertainment area, not a residential area. Justice Center Way was too dry, [so] when Mills sent us the request, the city went along.”

Others will no doubt follow: Auto malls on Drivertainment Avenue, country clubs on Golfertainment Circle, water parks on Rivertainment Way.

And grammarians will wonder: Have we no sense of shamertainment?