Do most people really have such trouble managing the difference between "Pun" and "Portmanteau"? I mean, they both fall under the broad category of "wordplay", sure, but that doesn't make them the same thing... Every time someone sticks two words together doesn't mean it has to be a pun or in any way clever.

Anyway, language is an evolving thing. The author obviously knows this, as he notes words like "camcorder" have found themselves in the lexicon as full, big-boy words. I mean, look at "movies" - it was just a bastardized shorthand for "moving picture" or "motion picture" and now it's the default American English word for any piece of cinema. Language changes, and one of the most common ways is that, for a new concept, we will mash together two words that relate vaguely to what we're talking about. Why is this a problem? Our whole language is a bastardization of an earlier version of other languages.

There's a reason Shakespeare is hard to understand - he didn't write in particularly elevated language at the time - normal-ass peasants could follow. So why does it take a college education to get Hamlet? It's not because we're stupider, it's because it's a different language now than it was then. If Shakespeare heard us talking he'd be even more bewildered than we are hearing his writing. At least we have the benefit of context.

Edit: To clarify, the whole point of this post is to say that he's right to be appalled by Bridezillas but I think he's chosen the wrong reason.