Verboticisms

Created by: badsnudge

Pronunciation: lin-truss-tee

Sentence: When I told her it was 'an' elephant and not 'uh' elephant, she told me that I was a nal. "Certainly not. I am merely a humble lynnetrustee." I replied.

Etymology: Lynne Truss (author of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves) + trustee

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Created by: Biscotti

Pronunciation: in-glish-may-jor

Sentence: Alex really took his englishmajorism over the top when he tried to convince people they were speaking with the wrong form of the word (too, two, to).

Etymology: english (a language many people speak) + major (the main course of study at a 4 year university or college)

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Created by: Ismelstar

Pronunciation: (strunk-tĭf'ĭ-k-kāt'er)

Sentence: With my guest listening attentively, I hastened to the punchline of my story. "After rotting in the cellar for weeks," I crowed, "my brother finally brought up the oranges!" My friends chortled, but my wife rolled her eyes. "Your decomposing brother should stay far away from me!" she began to strunktificate. It was then I realized she was an evil robot, sent from the future with the sole mission of destroying dangling modifiers and misplaced modifiers.

Etymology: A mashup of "Strunk", the last name of the Cornell Professor, best known as the author of the first editions of The Elements of Style, and the verb "pontificate", to express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.

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COMMENTS:

Brilliant word, great sentence. Love it! - metrohumanx, 2009-01-21: 15:38:00

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Created by: Tigger

Pronunciation: /ling-gwi-STIK-ler/

Sentence: Sarah's customer, Mr. Vern Acular stopped by her office to tell her that the business proposal she'd sent him to review was "written very good," and that he was hoping to award her company the contract for his account. "Well," she said, after a cringe and a long pause. After another long pause Vern asked, "Well what?" confused by her pained expression and stiff body language. She couldn't hold it in any longer — Sarah was an obsessive linguistickler, and all her careful writing was wasted on this ignorant buffoon. "It was written very WELL!" she said. "You said it was written very GOOD' but you should've said WELL instead of GOOD," she explained. Vern thought about that for a few moments and then said, "Alright then, I thought the writing was very WELL."

Etymology: Linguistic - consisting of or related to language (from Latin, lingua "language, tongue") + Stickler - a person who insists on something unyieldingly (from Old English, stihan "to arrange order")

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COMMENTS:

Love your story, Tigger, especially since I have dealt with guys like him myself...you really don't have to make this stuff up, do you? - Nosila, 2008-03-26: 02:00:00

It took me a minute to get the Vern Acular ref. heehee :) Hilarious he came back and said the writing was well. I hope he did that on purpose out of spite! - diyan627, 2008-03-26: 02:32:00

Wonderful word. I tend to suspect the percentage of linguisticklers among verbotomists is higher than that in the general population. - stache, 2008-03-26: 11:26:00

I tend to think of verbotomists as being lingui-ticklers - Jabberwocky, 2008-03-26: 11:47:00

Ahhhhh, I posted a similar word w/out seeing yours first. Your sentence, however, is much better than mine. You've got my vote. - werdnurd, 2008-03-26: 15:17:00

Love yore sentence and word! Someone said, "A grammarian is one who thinks it is more important to write correctly than to write well". - OZZIEBOB, 2008-03-26: 17:16:00

So true, Bob and stache. I bet everyone here has their pet-peeves about bad grammar though, things that just make you cringe. - Tigger, 2008-03-26: 21:43:00

I love "lingui-ticklers" too, Jabberwocky. That's an excellent verbotomy for 'verbotomists'. - Tigger, 2008-03-26: 21:46:00

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Created by: stache

Pronunciation: day-mĭn'uh-mōn'-r

Sentence: Bert was away on business when Loni's delivery date came, so he got the news of the blessed event by phone. "Its a pair of twins, darling!" she told him with glee. A habitual deminimoaner, he couldn't help himself. Knowing it would, at best, dampen the joyous mood, he spouted in reply, "REDUNDANT!"

Etymology: de min·i·mis, Latin, trifling or unimportant; moaner, one who moans, complainer.

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COMMENTS:

Perhaps it was tautology - . // The study of nervous tension. (Gil Krebs, POTD, 28 Jun 2000) - OZZIEBOB, 2008-03-26: 17:24:00

Great sentence! LOL. - Tigger, 2008-03-26: 22:02:00

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Created by: karenanne

Pronunciation: lek ZAK tih tood

Sentence: Lexie's constant correcting of what everyone was saying was really wearing thin. I told her I was chomping at the bit to get out of there because I found her lexactitude so annoying, and she responded, "Actually, it's 'champing at the bit,' not 'chomping.'" I told her something she could chomp as I was leaving.

Etymology: lex- (prefix meaning "word") + exactitude

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COMMENTS:

Lexie...love it! - Nosila, 2010-06-02: 23:41:00

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Created by: readerwriter

Pronunciation: jak-grahm-mer

Sentence: In the Teacher's Room, out of her hearing, of course, the red-haired English teacher was referred to as "The Jackgrammar." Even the Physics teacher, a man of few words and much substance, laughed out loud at the label. The barrage of her daily correction was intolerable. Her red pen not only marked her students papers, but the notice board ("final grade's due on...") , the photocopy machine ("put xtra paper here.."), the Principle's (sic) suggestion box. Little did the teachers know that her boyfriend was a tattoo artist and that underneath her long-sleeved blouses, on the skin of her left forearm (unseen in the drawing), was a red and blue heart and the words, "Luv Conquers All."

Etymology: A play on "jackhammer," a pneumatic tool for breaking pavement and drilling rock.

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COMMENTS:

Laughed all the way through the sentence. Luv the way the etymology implies such people hit us like a hammar and break us. - silveryaspen, 2009-01-16: 10:08:00

Good one! - Nosila, 2009-01-16: 20:46:00

This one's destined to be a classic. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-21: 15:34:00

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Created by: youmustvotenato

Pronunciation: F-11

Sentence: Who cares if I said "me and my dog" instead of "my dog and I"? Don't be such an effeleven!

Etymology: from the keyboard shortcut for spellchecker

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Created by: metrohumanx

Pronunciation: cur-RECT-ALL-linguine

Sentence: Maxine and Clem were deeply in like. Clem was always sanguine and adored Maxine's crimson clothing and gutsy attitude. Maxine had moxie, but she was constantly irritated by Clem's use of the word "less" instead of "fewer". Maxine flew into a rage when she heard someone say "podiums" instead of the correct plural form, "podia"...Yes, Clem may have been an unsophisticated proto-boor, but Maxine was an unbearable CORRECTOLINGWEENIE -and an unwanted voluntary proofreader for all the world's bad grammar. When they inevitably broke up, Maxine found that she had less friends than before, and Clem had fewer fun, despite shaving off his sideburns and growing a unibrow.

Etymology: Okay, try to bear with me on this one..........CORRECTOL+LINGuist+WEENIE= CORRECTOLINGWEENIE...CORRECT:to make or set right,to amend,to alter or adjust so as to bring to some standard,to point out usually for amendment the errors or faults,to punish (as a child) with a view to reforming or improving; Middle English, from Latin correctus, past participle of corrigere, from com- + regere to lead straight...ALL:the whole amount, quantity or extent of,as much as possible; Middle English all, al, from Old English eall; akin to Old High German all...CORRECTOL: The Woman's Gentle Laxative." Its slogan: "For Gentle, Dependable overnight relief”...LINGUIST:a person who believes they are accomplished in languages;Latin lingua language, tongue...LINGUINE: a hot Italian dish, tasty and hard to resist;Italian, plural of linguina, diminutive of lingua tongue, from Latin...WEENIE:alteration of wienie, Informal. A wiener; Slang. A person who is regarded as being dorklike yet not subject to ordinary social inhibitions (tweaked).

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COMMENTS:

http://drminz.com/v4/random4.html - metrohumanx, 2009-01-16: 01:41:00

SAY IT! Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-16: 08:03:00

Your etymology is logical, Mr. Spock! - Nosila, 2009-01-16: 20:50:00

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Created by: rebelvin

Pronunciation: wordnerd

Sentence: She wordnerds me every time I say the least thing grammatically incorrect.

Etymology: word+nerd

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COMMENTS:

Hey, quit making fun of the username! - werdnurd, 2008-03-26: 15:23:00

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