NBC slashes; Where did name smushing for pairings come from?

[emmagrant01]

Anyone else catch this ad after tonight's repeat of Scrubs?

Announcer: "Thursdays on NBC are filled with romance. First, Jim and Pam became 'Jam' (referring to characters on The Office). Dwight and Angela became 'Dwangela'. And now, J.D. and Turk (of Scrubs) become 'Jurk'."

Followed by a scene of J.D. and Turk singing a love song to each other, with a joking but strong implication of fisting having occurred between them. The ad ends with a sweet embrace between J.D. and Turk. Apparently, this is a promo for the Scrubs musical episode coming in January.

A major network, adopting fan practices of smushing names together for pairings? Not to mention a HUGE fuckin' shout-out to the J.D./Turk slashers??? Holy crap!

So... did the practice of name smushing originate in fandom or elsewhere? Did the coining of "Brangelina" and "Bennifer" come out of fandom influences, or was it just the media being creative? Did fandom pick it up from popular culture or vice versa?

Edit: From Wikipedia: Blends and portmanteau are the closest entries I could find describing this practice.

Comments

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

So...are J.D. and Turk both boys then? Cos it's way not obvious the gender to those of us who don't watch this stuff.