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.
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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Shocumentary
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: shäkyəmentərē
Sentence: Well we’ve lasted through another Sharkweak. Seven days of people ”risking their lives” to show us just how dangerous sharks are. Each shocumentary tried to outdo the other scaring their audience, at least in the promos.
Etymology: shock (a sudden upsetting or surprising event or experience) + documentary (a movie or a television or radio program that provides a factual record or report)
Seinsteinfeld
Created by: GlobalGallery
Pronunciation: sine-stine-feld
Sentence: It's gonna be a hit I tell ya. It's a sitcom, set in New York, and it's all about this wacky bunch of friends who are really into theoretical physics.
Etymology: 1.Seinfeld - A popular TV comedy set in New York City starring Jerry Seinfeld. 2.Einstein - German born Nobel prize winning physicist who formulated the theory of relativity.
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COMMENTS:
fantastic - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:16:00
What a combination! Einstein and Seinfeld! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 15:45:00
Great, a show about nothing...0 = MC2, what a Quantum Leap Year! - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 17:49:00
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Conciface
Created by: Artomun
Pronunciation: n. KAHN-sih-fiss; v. KAHN-sih-fayss
Sentence: n. The teacher used a conciface in order to increase understanding among his students. v. Sometimes it is necessary to conciface so people will understand a concept. However, concifacing can be difficult with some subjects. Many things have been concifaced in classroom settings.
Etymology: Concinno- make, cause to be, render (Latin); Facilis- easy (Latin).
Simpliphylum
Created by: cosmonaut
Pronunciation: sim-pluh-fahy-luhm
Sentence: "He's caught Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!" "Um, is there anyway you could simpliphylum that for us...?"
Etymology: A new and exciting cross-bread between simplify and phylum.
Naturtainment
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: nāchərtānmənt
Sentence: Bob loves to watch all the naturtainment shows. He gets all the excitement of a soap opera without all the ugly visions of reality. Somehow the cute doe-eyed thing-a-ma-critter always finds a way to just barely escape the maw of the vicious predator. His favorite ones are the old ones sponsored by Mutual of OMG.
Etymology: nature (the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations) + entertainment (the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment)
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COMMENTS:
I used to love Mutual of OmaGod when Marlin Perkins was supposed to hold the rope to keep Jim Fowler safe from the critter they were wrangling and would almost always let it slip. That's naturtainment! - otherguy, 2009-01-30: 06:33:00
Love it! - wayoffcenter, 2009-01-30: 06:36:00
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Dramscienplify
Created by: chaiandallthatjazz
Pronunciation: drom- sI-en- plif- I
Sentence: "Okay ladies and gentlemen, we have a few workshop options to choose from. Choose the one you are most comfortable with. There is no right answer. See the descriptions on the handout. The microbiology dramscienplify 101 workshop is in room 2; the microbiology workshop, room 1; and, oh," he murmurs, "microbiology comscienplify 101 is room 3. We hope you gain from the workshop, and please make sure to fill out the survey at the end of the workshop as our success depends on you. Thank you."
Etymology: drama + science + simplify / comedy + science + simplify
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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Spinflictosham
Created by: metrohumanx
Pronunciation: spin-FLICK-toe-sham (spinflictoshammer, spinflictoshammed)
Sentence: Albert, a sensitive but demented biologist, was taken aback when he flicked on his television and found out that the folks at LYSOL had managed to bio-engineer all household bacteria into frightening, agressive enemies the size of GUMMYBEARS! Regular soap kills 98 % of germs but- in order to promote sales of "antibacterial" products, corporate advertising mavens sought to frighten everyone by portraying innocuous germs as flesh-eating maggots from hell. Albert knew that this approach to increased sales was merely a persuasive bogus SPINFLICTOSHAM...perpetrated to scare caring parental units into purchasing "ECO"products which cost more, but were no more effective than grandma's home-made soap. Albert sent an e-mail in protest, but in the end he washed his hands of the whole affair.
Etymology: SPIN+inFLICT+"O"+SHAM=SPINFLICTOSHAM.......SPIN:to present (as information) with a particular spin,to stretch out or extend (as a story) lengthily; .....INFLICT:to give by or as if by striking ,to cause (something unpleasant) to be endured, especially false knowledge; Latin inflictus, past participle of infligere, from in- + fligere "to strike"....."O"-a 20th century connective trick used to fuse two words together (suds-o-mat).....SHAM: a trick that deludes, a hoax, cheap falseness, especially purporting to be based upon scientific knowledge; perhaps from English dialect sham "shame", alteration of English shame.
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COMMENTS:
BEWARE! Bogus science and magnetic insoles..... Lookee here:
http://www.quackwatch.org/ - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 01:09:00
I thrive on rejection and encourage feedback. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 01:29:00
Eco products are certainly de rigueur at the moment. I suspect many of them are the identical products but just re-labeled. - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:34:00
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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