Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To ask a someone a bizarre question in order to get them to think outside their mental little boxes. (And to see if they are actually listening.) n. A creative provocation designed to pull people out of their daily stupor.
Verboticisms
Click on each verboticism to read the sentences created by the Verbotomy writers, and to see your voting options...
You have two votes. Click on the words to read the details, then vote your favorite.
Quirqrelease
Created by: petaj
Pronunciation: quirk ree-lees
Sentence: With a twinkle in his eye, Jack threw a quirqrelease into the business arising. The chair cracked up while the secretary's handwriting went all shaky as she stifled her laughter while taking the minutes.
Etymology: quirk (oddity) + q (for question) + release (break out) + quick release (device for emergency escapes)
Zenquiry
Created by: bookowl
Pronunciation: zen-kwire/ee
Sentence: A zenquiry requires complete silence and meditation. The questions are open to interpretation and often surprising.
Etymology: zen + enquiry
Prodvoke
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: prädvōk
Sentence: During his weekly meetings with his staff, Larry loved to prodvoke people to think outside the box. As he was being fired, he was reminded he worked for a packaging company and that people are paid to think INSIDE the box.
Etymology: prod (an act of stimulating or reminding someone to do something) + provoke (stimulate or incite)
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COMMENTS:
carton me, but a good story! - Nosila, 2010-09-22: 18:03:00
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Idiokcrazy
Created by: abrakadeborah
Pronunciation: Id-e-o-ock-cra-zee
Sentence: Darlene went to the service station to get them to check the water level in her 1977 VW beetle radiator. As she asked Joe the service station mechanic to do this...Joe could not believe the "idiokcrazy" of the car owner not knowing there was no radiator on that car! Joe just rolled his eyes in an "idiokcraziedly" way. Darlene laughed because she knew her car had no radiator... Then,her husband Dan went into the hardware store and asked a clerk an "idiokcrazy" question about the seats on his wheelbarrow (that he really only needed a new wheel for). The clerk amused Dan then continued on to ask Dan if he wanted a leather or cloth seat?
Etymology: Idio- from the word idiot ; DUMB k ; ok Crazy ; out of their mind. To think someone is not only crazy but also an idiot... :)~
Stunundrum
Created by: Tigger
Pronunciation: /stun-'un-drum/
Sentence: Trying to 'chat up' the receptionist at the veterinarians office, Stuart idly asked her, "So why do they say you're getting your dog 'fixed' when really it doesn't work anymore afterwords? People ought to say they're taking the dog to get 'broken' instead, shouldn't they?" By the blank, slack-jawed look she gave him, he realized he'd overwhelmed her with a Stunundrum. He just sighed, sat back down and petted Rascal for awhile - at least Rascal seemed to pretend to understand his jokes.
Etymology: Stun (from O.Fr. estoner) - to astonish, overpower or bewilder. + Conundrum (pseudo-Latin) - a riddle in which a fanciful question is answered by a pun.
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COMMENTS:
excellent! - galwaywegian, 2009-03-11: 06:47:00
Perhaps Stu should've had the dog
TUTORED instead.... - metrohumanx, 2009-03-11: 21:26:00
Marvelous word - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:57:00
Really good word! I like the way it sounds :) Good Job! - abrakadeborah, 2009-03-14: 18:58:00
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Hawkinvestigate
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation: haw kin vest igg ayt
Sentence: the hawkinvestigation of his neighbours washing line led to a big bang
Etymology: hawkin as in stephen, investigate
Braintweezer
Created by: splendiction
Pronunciation: brain tweaser
Sentence: “Please don’t give me one of those braintweezers of yours right before I have to go to bed!” Paul warned his philosophy roommate Ato. Lately, Paul, Ato and a bunch of the others had been posing many mindbenders of eachother with sharp braintweezers that stimulated unused areas of the brain. “After the last braintweez, my mind’s swelling and redness lasted for days! I lost too much sleep with the throbbing thoughts in my head...although I did realize the world is really a shallow representation of the forms!”
Etymology: From the words brain and tweezer, to pinch; it is closely related to "brainteaser" but "braintweezer" causes more of a reaction in the recipient, more lateral thinking.
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COMMENTS:
Splendid word - silveryaspen, 2009-03-12: 00:51:00
Good! - kateinkorea, 2009-03-12: 22:04:00
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Mindgame
Created by: RightOnTheWin
Pronunciation: \ˈmīnd\ˈgām\
Sentence: Derek enjoys to mindgame “slow” people so they’ll demean themselves. However, the day came when Derek himself became the victim of mindgame.
Etymology: Mind ( The conscious mental events and capabilities in an organism ) + Game (Activity engaged in for diversion or amusement)
Evoqunotion
Created by: kateinkorea
Pronunciation: ee VOKE que NO sheun
Sentence: Several times a year Dr. Miller would lay an evoqunotion on us, to get us to think outside the box. He would suddenly ask us a question that seemed very complicated and difficult, or even impossible. Usually the solution was to look for another way of interpreting the question. Of course he always used the classic ‘nine-dot’ creativity puzzle at some point in the semester-the originator of the thinking outside the box concept. Initially the students would stress over these questions for days, but near the end of the semester the students were waiting with bated breath for the next one to come out.
Etymology: EVOKE: prompt, spur QUERY: question NOTION: idea EVOLUTION: change over time
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COMMENTS:
what a foxy outboxy creative sentence. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:41:00
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Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James