Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To simplify, dramatize and fictionalize scientific knowledge so that it appeals to a general audience. n. A scientific fact, which has been exaggerated and dumbed-down to make it more "interesting".
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.
Dorkumentary
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: dawrk-yuh-men-tuh-ree
Sentence: By the time the network was done making the scientific study interesting and understandable to their audience, all they succeeded in producing was a dorkumentary.
Etymology: dork (a silly, out-of-touch person who tends to look odd or behave ridiculously around others; a social misfit) + documentary (based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements)
Sciperbole
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: sy per bo lee
Sentence: Ed Speriment was the Grade 8 Science Teacher. It was not that he loved Science or knew anything about it, it was a choice between this class or teaching Sex Education (something he knew even less about and was not likely to learn). They do say the best way to learn something is to teach it, so Ed hoped that he could learn enough about the subject of Science to fool the little hooligans in his class at Hormone Junior High School. He exaggerated so many concepts and used simple tricks to try and get the curriculum through to unwilling minds. He called it his theory of Sciperbole. For Chemistry, he had success in showing Chemical reactions...which became a real Soap Opera. Who knew Bleach and Ammonia were not on speaking terms and brought the worst out in each other? Butyric Acid, yes it sure does smell like after your pregnant, single sister has had morning sickness. In Biology, he helped them see that old pizza under your bed, dead mice in the air vents or wet socks in your locker could grow whole new worlds of creatures. In Kinetics, he had them experiment at home. The volume of beer given to their Dads at night directly impacted the amount and timespan of inertia they observed of their paters on the couch, snoring in front of late-night paid programming. For Astronomy, he had them chart their horoscopes every day. (Everyone should be a Virgo until they get married, he would joke!) And Physics was easy, because he just showed them old Star Trek and Dr.Who shows to learn the salient words and concepts of time and space travel. (Yes, TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space-Question #25 on the final exam!) All the kids got A's and everyone loved Mr. Ed. for making Science fun, even if it wasn't very scientific!
Etymology: Science (a particular branch of scientific knowledge;ability to produce solutions in some problem domain) & Hyperbole (Exaggeration;to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth)
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COMMENTS:
All the kids at MoreScience Highschool owe you a debt of gratitude for your prolific contributions. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 01:14:00
I'd like to thank the members of the Academy...oh no, that's for my Oscar! Cheers & Thanks. - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 01:22:00
great blend - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:17:00
Thoroughly enjoyed the class of Ed Speriment. Edceptional verbotomy, too! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 16:06:00
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Xcisefiles
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: X/cise/Files
Sentence: Be sure to watch PBS's latest and greatest scientific adventure yet, in the show all the scientific world is buzzing about 'The XciseFiles' starring David Duchonvy as Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully. In this week's nail biter, with a surprising and shocking ending, the two stars take you on a long, scary and sometimes dangerous journey on how water boils at 100 degrees celcius, turns to steam, then condenses and turns back to rain, or water. Don't miss this week's shocking, suspenseful premier called 'The Water Cycle'.
Etymology: XciseFiles - noun - from EXCISE (to remove, or cut out) + X-FILES (former popular TV show above strange and possible scientific facts and recent movie 'X-Files - I Want to Believe'
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COMMENTS:
terrific sentence - you must be a science teacher - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:18:00
I smell an Emmy...good word! - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 17:56:00
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Simplescieman
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: simpel - sii - man
Sentence: Rufus just published a new book about Brain Surgery. It looks like the simplescieman version with lots of colored pictures, new "easy" words for the anatomy and loads of symbols (arrows, charts and little brains). He is hoping that it will be more understandable and, therefore, appeal to a wider audience. Unfortunately, it is about as educational as a quick game of Operation.
Etymology: Simple Simon + Science >> Simple Simon (a foolish fellow, a simpleton) Science ( the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding, knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws)
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COMMENTS:
Simplescieman appeals to my "inner child"...I am a passionate practitioner of DIY surgery. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 01:17:00
Perfect! - kateinkorea, 2009-01-30: 07:11:00
wonderful - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:18:00
Easy to say and remember, right on the definition, pun fun humorous, with readily apparent meaning! Simplescieman has it all! Super Duper! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 15:48:00
Said Simplescieman to the Pi(π)man, let me taste your wares, Said the Pieman to Simplescieman, my Pi's aren't round, they're squared! Must be a good word if it is stuck in my head now! - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 17:54:00
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Defactoid
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: de-fac-toid
Sentence: Due to the success of his book, "K-9 ET" (Extra-terrestrial Doggies), Fred became the defactoid authority on canine aliens. He was a popular guest on the talk show circut and, after appearances on Larry King and The Tonight Show, landed his own cable television show, called "Is Your Dog an Alien?"
Etymology: de:remove from + fact: truth -- defacto: dominant standard or law that exists because of common acceptance rather than authority + factoid: a "fact" that exists to create or manipulate public opinion - often applied to newsmedia accused of publishing untrue or unverified articles for the purpose of sensationalism.
Cybertific
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: sy ber tif fik
Sentence: With the advent of the computer age, no stone is left unturned in the quest for knowledge. To make scientific information digestible to the great masses, many sites have become cybertific. This means that domains of eminent scientists and years of research and investigation have been simplified so that anyone who can turn on a computer, can cut and paste deep information. Such data is then used by these sci-pirates on facebook and twitter to submit as their own assignments for school. Thank you Wikipedia.
Etymology: Cyber (relating to or characteristic of the culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality) & Scientific (conforming with the principles or methods used in science)
Darwnsagain
Created by: scrabbelicious
Pronunciation: Dar-wins-ag-en
Sentence: Mr. Cox loved his subject so much he strived to get everyone in his ecolony to marvel at every intricate detail of its fabrication. "Ground breaking", he thought, "almost Darwinsagain".
Etymology: Darwin -: Famous Victorian lover of Tortoises and birds with one wing. Win -: to be victorious. Again -: More than once, recurring.
Scifidumb
Created by: TJayzz
Pronunciation: Sy-fy-dum
Sentence: Whilst trying to explain the details to the general public about the inner workings of quantum physics, the scientists, in order to scifidumb the subject, resorted to employing a nursury school teacher to simplify things and also an author with a good imagination to make things more interesting by adding a few false facts.
Etymology: Sci-fi(Abbreviation of science fiction) + Dumb(as in dumb down) = Scifidumb
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COMMENTS:
it would be fun to hear verbotomists explaining quantum physics - I bet we cold come up with some interesting false facts - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:29:00
No doubt there Jabberwocky!! - TJayzz, 2009-01-31: 13:58:00
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Adfactation
Created by: petaj
Pronunciation: ad-fact-ay-shun
Sentence: Interest in climate change has produced a slew of adfactations about greenhouse gases, electric cars and energy conservation.
Etymology: adaptation (biological - feature or behaviour of animal that suits it's habitat) (artistic - the making of a movie from a literary piece often making it more commercial for a larger audience) + fact
Gnawledge
Created by: readerwriter
Pronunciation: naw-led-geh
Sentence: At first, Sophia thought it was stupid. Her science teacher at Totally High School had just given the class something he called a Sillybus. On their handouts, a bus was pictured on a kind of map travelling over land and water. The teacher explained the journey the science class would take throughout the school year towards something he called the land of GNAWLEDGE. The teacher promised to show the class that every organism, living or dead, was fed or became food for other organisms in a boat called a HIGHERARKY. For those students who were spiritually-minded, the teacher would present a special section called the Angel Food Cake Walk and prove that after all the little things you couldn't see were eaten by the things you could see, then angels, which you couldn't always see, ate people which you could only see for a while. That day, at morning break, Sophia decided to become anorexic.
Etymology: A play on KNOWLEDGE, the fact or state of knowing + GNAW, to bite or chew persistently
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COMMENTS:
love the story - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:16:00
Thanks for the high praise, Jabberwocky! - readerwriter, 2009-01-30: 11:53:00
Memorable story and verbotomy - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 15:43:00
no way! if gnawledge's etymology is based on "chew persistently", then doesn't that mean quite the opposite (or at least different) than "to simplify"? To me, this word means chewing on information and slowly making your own judgment, in contrast to passively swallowing "knowledge" that was produced by someone else - elcanyonazo, 2009-02-07: 15:28:00
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Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Well put.
...and thank you for letting me "vent".
Thank you for venting! Obviously you are very gnawledgeable. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James