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'Eat! Or you'll turn into a boneless chicken.'

DEFINITION: n., Cautionary advice provided by parents to their children, often makes no logical sense but carries enough emotional weight to affect the child's behavior. v. To warn of danger through the judicious use of exaggeration.

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Verboticisms

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Causham

Created by: Rehlit

Pronunciation: kaw-sham

Sentence: Many parents use an insidious causham to frighten their naughty children. Such as "If you eat watermelon seeds, a watermelon will grow in your stomach!"

Etymology: Caution(a warning against danger or evil; anything serving as a warning) + sham (something that is not what it purports to be; a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax; pretended; counterfeit; feigned:)

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Hyperpoultry

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: hi per pol tree

Sentence: "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" is what young Eggbert had heard since he was hatched. This was an example of the hyperpoultry his parents used on him to control his natural curiousity. If he did not die from fowl play, he hoped instead to become a fryer in a monastery, if he could pullet it off!

Etymology: Hyperbole (extravagant exaggeration) & Poultry (fowl,a domesticated gallinaceous bird)

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Kiddiwink

Created by: OZZIEBOB

Pronunciation: kid-DEE-wink

Sentence: When young Bob started studying Latin, he thought that the expression,"in loco parentis "described well his parents' mum - bojumbo and poppalaver. Nevertheless, he was still a bit concerned about their warning to him that if he didn't eat his veggies he wouldn't go to heaven." His Latin teacher, Mr Polly Glott, on hearing about this told him he was being kiddiwinked, and that he should seek to understand the Indonesian proverb," seperti ayam patok anaknya." - - Translating: "as the hen pecks her children." (mock severity of doting parents.)

Etymology: Kid: 1. child, young one, but also teenagers 2.Wink: to humbug, fool, blarney. . Wink (as in hoodwink)to cover the eyes, to blind mentally, to humbug. Kiddiwink: a young child (Australian Slang ???): Although, I never heard it used!

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COMMENTS:

The Kiddiwinkle and Rocky Show. Great word OZ! - Scrumpy, 2007-09-28: 07:56:00

where's the great sentence today?? - Jabberwocky, 2007-09-28: 12:05:00

My granddaughter needed to go to hospital pronto. And things were at sixes and sevens for a while. She may need surgery today: appendicitis ??? - OZZIEBOB, 2007-09-28: 18:22:00

Hope things are okay with your granddaughter. Great cereberal expanding sentence once again! - Scrumpy, 2007-09-28: 18:41:00

you can write her a little story to make her feel better - hope everything's okay - Jabberwocky, 2007-09-28: 19:30:00

Ozpziebob...didn't realize the Oz part meant you were in Australia????...I just arrived in the Godzone (New Zealand) to see my children and grandson...your wee one will be in my thoughts and prayers. - readerwriter, 2008-08-29: 15:25:00

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Radmomition

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: rad MOM ish in

Sentence: Growing up in an Irish household,the 6 siblings were all raised on a solid diet of good old radmomition. This included an assorted mix of superstitions (spilling salt requires you to throw some over your left shoulder), Aesop's fables(remember that grasshopper and the ant?), lessons from the Bible(Thou shalt not lie about who ate the baking out of the freezer) and old wives' tales(if you tell a lie, your nose will grow), guaranteed to scare even the toughest know-it-all kid into submission. It was never really understood how putting a hat on the bed or opening an umbrella indoors would bring about bad luck; how stepping on a crack could break your mother's back or how licking a frosty metal fence would make your tongue stick to it. (Okay, that on was really true, as one brother found out the hard way)! Yet all these tools were used by their mother to great effectiveness. People marvelled at how well-behaved 6 kids could be out in public. But one look from their Mom's omnipresent eye could nail them to a couch for hours on end, quietly, without a hint of physical persuasion. Santa's elves were watching you just before Christmas time (I mean really, weren't they too busy making toys?); God would be mad to learn you did not put your coins on the offering plate in Church (like does he count it all?)If there was no known adage to affect a situation, she simply would make one up. It was not until they were into their teens that they discovered the Ice Cream Man going around the neighbourhood played his twinkly songs when he still had goodies left to sell. They had always been told that the music was a sign he was sold out. The irony was that all these siblings went through higher education, got responsible jobs and used exactly the same radmomition tactics on their own children and grandchildren...May you be half an hour in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead!

Etymology: Radical (a person who has out there ideas or opinions;used of opinions and actions far beyond the norm) & Admonition (cautionary advice about something imminent;counsel in terms of someone's behavior;warn strongly; put on guard) & Mom (female parent)& Superstition (an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear;folklore;omens of good and bad luck)

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COMMENTS:

metrohumanx Oh MAN!!!!...You mean the ice cream man WASN'T sold out? - metrohumanx, 2008-08-29: 05:56:00

metrohumanx "Mom's omnipresent eye"....great turn of a phrase, Nosette. :) - metrohumanx, 2008-08-29: 08:11:00

Actual advice from an Alaskan native: Do NOT try to lick the glaciers. - Tigger, 2008-08-29: 10:34:00

Great "sentence!" :) - lumina, 2008-08-29: 15:46:00

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Lorewarning

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: lor/war/ning

Sentence: Lorewarning is the practice of raising children by indoctrinating them with urban legends.

Etymology: lore (myths, folklore) + forewarning

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COMMENTS:

metrohumanx Alligators in the sewers? - metrohumanx, 2008-08-29: 06:06:00

Witches eat little kids who don't go to bed on time? - lumina, 2008-08-29: 15:33:00

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Dominprations

Created by: readerwriter

Pronunciation: DOM-in-pray-shuns

Sentence: Mother Hen, like most parental units, was given to dominprations whenever she got the chance, so worried was she that Little Clucky wouldn't make it to 12 weeks, his age of personal acountability. But, what did L.C. know--he was an adolescent and a major risk taker.

Etymology: From dominate, Latin domis, to exert supreme control + prate, idle chatter

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Yarnstay

Created by: jimtastic

Pronunciation: Yarn (as in barn)...stay (as in may)

Sentence: The yarnstay of going blind from playing with one's own thingamabob or puffinstuff has been passed on from older generations to younger generations for centuries.

Etymology: yarn: a word only used by grandmothers relating a tale, esp. a long story of adventure or incredible happenings / stay: to suspend or delay (actions, proceedings, etc.).

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COMMENTS:

Great blend of Old English words. - OZZIEBOB, 2007-09-30: 18:07:00

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Malaproscription

Created by: ErWenn

Pronunciation: /ˈmæləpro(ʊ)ˌskɹɪpʃən/

Sentence: Most new parents promise themselves that they'll always be open and honest with their children, but each time they are asked "Why not?", the probability of the birth of a new malaproscription increases.

Etymology: from malapropism + proscription

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Parenfiction

Created by: PeeJaY

Pronunciation: PAIR-REN-FIK-SHON

Sentence: Alice was adept at providing all sorts of parenfiction to stop here eleven sons from fighting with each other.

Etymology: A conjoining of Parent and Fiction describing the untruths manufactured by desperate parents.

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Yolklaw

Created by: wordslikevenom

Pronunciation: Yolk-law

Sentence: "Cluck, cluck, cluck", mother was laying down the yolklaw yet again.

Etymology: Yolk - middle part of an egg. Law - a rule or the whole system of such rules.

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-09-28: 00:01:00
Today's definition was suggested by remistram. Thank you remistram! ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-01-20: 00:25:00
Today's definition was suggested by remistram. Thank you remistram. ~ James