Verboticisms

Created by: Tigger

Pronunciation: /EE-gad-van-tij/

Sentence: When Vinny, the apprentice electrician, saw his boss grab his left arm, fall to the floor at his feet and then pass out, he dropped the wires he was holding and grabbed for the wall to steady himself. But he was working in front of the circuit breaker box, and instead of grabbing the wall, he accidentally switched on the main power feed. "Egad!" exclaimed Vinny, as his boss' body convulsed from the electricity, and he quickly switched the power off again. But it turned out to be an egadvantage, since the jolt restarted his boss' heart, saving his life.

Etymology: Egad - an expletive or mild oath (euphemistic corruption of the oath, "by God") + Advantage - a beneficial factor or combination of factors (from Old French, avantage "to come before")

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COMMENTS:

Good word, 'Shocking' story! - TJayzz, 2008-05-02: 16:28:00

Thank God Vinny did not conduct himself well that day!!Is this a shorts story?? - Nosila, 2008-05-03: 22:22:00

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Created by: artr

Pronunciation: kləstərlək

Sentence: In a stroke of clusterluck the committee made a decision. They didn't mean to. They were perfectly happy running around like a flock of proverbial headless chickens. By misunderstanding Parliamentary procedure one of the younger members called for a vote. Half the others didn't even know what they were voting on. The chairman was more than happy to take credit for the seemingly brilliant action.

Etymology: cluster[insert popular 4-letter word here] (A confusing or chaotic situation or event, often caused by a failure of communication, an excessive amount of people attempting to accomplish a given task, or a complex environmen) + luck (success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions)

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Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: byoo-dee-trap

Sentence: Mark was on a sweet learning curve after falling for a bewdytrap. Although he succumbed to the seductive charms of a woman in power and asked her out for a date, the resulting dismissal led to a new job as a female impersonator. His strutting around the stage was reminiscent of his ex-boss and he was a huge hit with the audience.

Etymology: booby trap (something that causes someone to suffer an accident or make a mistake) + bewdy (Aust. sl variation of beauty meaning excellent)

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Created by: OZZIEBOB

Pronunciation: foh-PAR-uh-gon

Sentence: As the flash of the photographer's camera went off, amid what seemed to me to be an eternity of applause, my heart pounded with the joy of success. Years of hard work had finally paid off; my book had won the neighourhood annual literary award. However as I came forward to accept the thousand dollar prize, it was quickly becoming apparent to me that, to my horror and utter disbelief, almost certainly, a "great" dust-cover disaster was unfolding right before my eyes: the printers had put my name, by mistake, on another author's work. It was a fauxparagon, but I been down or my luck for far too long, so why shouldn't I have a bit of dumb luck too; and, anyway, I needed the money more than he did.

Etymology: FAUX: false, a blunder; PARAGON:ideal instance; a perfect model,perfect example.

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COMMENTS:

oops! - Jabberwocky, 2008-05-02: 14:07:00

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Created by: didsbury

Pronunciation:

Sentence: When I dinged my boss's car in the lot I thought I was fired for sure but the whole situation was totally clutzverted. It turns out she wanted an excuse to claim insurance for some damage done in a not-so-secret DUI incident last month.

Etymology: Derived from the German 'klootzverteignung'. First written usage in 1538 in the description of a mid-summer festival where the death of 250 Bavarian villagers created a flourishing tourist trade at the site of the event.

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COMMENTS:

Great word. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-04: 06:49:00

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Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: air/owe/nee/bow/nus

Sentence: To erroneously mark down the wrong civic holiday on the company calender was a mistake. To get an extra day off was an erronebonus.

Etymology: erroneous + bonus

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Created by: TJayzz

Pronunciation: Blun-der-bow-nus

Sentence: If it hadn't been for Jack's stupid mistake of signing up for the cookery class instead of woodwork, then he would never have met his fiance Becky, it certainly had turned out to be a blunderbonus.

Etymology: Blunder(mistake) + Bonus(unexpected pleasant surprise) = Blunderbonus

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Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: faw lee soop pare ee or

Sentence: FiFi had been a trained ballet dancer who had fallen on hard times and was forced to dance in a cabaret show to earn her keep. Instead of leotards and tulle tutu skirts, she wore skimpy theatrical costumes, often with paste gems and feathers or other items strategically placed on them. For the Victorian times of 1870 she lived in, these costumes were considered very scandalous. All that changed one night when the thin straps of her loose dress burdened with the heavy weight of 10 pounds of fake cherries broke free while she was in motion. Her audience was allowed to gaze upon her totally nude body for several minutes before she realized what had happened. Fifi's wardrobe malfunction became the follysuperior of her career and instantly took her from the back of the chorus line to become the featured performer. The stage manager, smelling a fortune to be made, arranged for her to do this every performance, so appreciative was the audience's response. Yes, gentlemen for miles around came to see her lose her cherries every night and that's how the striptease of burlesque was born.

Etymology: folly ( foolish or senseless behavior, the trait or quality of acting stupidly or rashly, a stupid mistake)& superior (of high or superior quality or performance)& rhymes with Folies Bergères (Paris Music Hall which featured bawdy song and dance reviews between 1890-1920, including burlesque and nearly nude dances and stripteases, and later, Josephine Baker)

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COMMENTS:

Love the story. Hilarious! - Tigger, 2008-05-02: 21:57:00

Top story. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-04: 06:52:00

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Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: air/owe/nee/bow/nus

Sentence: To erroneously mark down the wrong civic holiday on the company calender was a mistake. To get an extra day off was an erronebonus.

Etymology: erroneous + bonus

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COMMENTS:

nice blending. only 2 extra letters added to a 'real' word. - stache, 2008-05-02: 08:54:00

Good one! - Mustang, 2008-05-02: 18:46:00

Excellent! - Tigger, 2008-05-02: 22:18:00

Ditto, ditto. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-04: 06:50:00

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Created by: TJayzz

Pronunciation: Zoo-purr-blu-pur

Sentence: Jane was distracted by her kids whilst buying her lottery ticket and made a mistake by writing down the wrong numbers, fortunately it turned out to be a zooperblooper as, due to her mistake she won the jackpot!

Etymology: Zooper(super,great) Blooper(a big mistake) = zooperblooper

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COMMENTS:

Zoinks, that was a lucky mistake. - Tigger, 2008-05-02: 22:01:00

What are the chances... - Nosila, 2008-05-03: 22:22:00

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