Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To ask a someone a bizarre question in order to get them to think outside their mental little boxes. (And to see if they are actually listening.) n. A creative provocation designed to pull people out of their daily stupor.
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.
Evocogitreat
Created by: metrohumanx
Pronunciation: eee-VOE-codge-a-TREET (evocogitreatment)
Sentence: Gill Bates wasn't really mullicious, but his job as a border guard had affected him in strange ways. Years of interrogating aliens caused him to ask bizarre, sometimes profound questions. Questions were his bread, and answers were his butter. Metaphors were his condiments, but only on weekends. Gill's EVOCOGITREATMENT of the language usually resulted in a far-away look shrouded in a roaring silence, but one night he ordered a pizza cut into NINE slices, causing a vessel to burst in the chef's brain. He frequently asked the goth kid at the gas station to change the air in his tires. The waitress couldn't tell him the origin of "chicken fingers", and the local policeman couldn't explain the absence of "GO" signs. When Gill asked his librarian if she had "books on paper", she had to call her supervisor. Gill Bates now spends his retirement peeling grapes and wondering what would happen if an atomic bomb was detonated in the eye of a hurricane. Perhaps he should EVOCOGITREAT the French Ambassador.....They'd probably love to detonate a low-yield nuke in the South Pacific...and it wouldn't bother them ATOLL!
Etymology: EVOke+COGITate+tREAT= EVOCOGITREAT.....EVOKE:to call forth, conjure, to re-create imaginatively, to bring to mind, tending to induce an especially emotional response; French évoquer, from Latin evocare, from e- + vocare to call .....COGITATE: (transitive verb ) to ponder or meditate on very intently; Latin cogitatus, past participle of cogitare to think, think about, from co- + agitare to drive, agitate.....TREAT: to present or represent artistically ,to deal with in speech, writing or action; Middle English treten, from Anglo-French treter, traiter, traitier, from Latin tractare to drag about, handle, deal with, frequentative of trahere to drag, pull.
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COMMENTS:
Evocogitreat is mullicious, both are delightful and great creates. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:36:00
Do leaderships swim? - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:38:00
Since metaphors are his condiments, I don't relish trying to ketchup with Gill! He mustard gone to the Mayo clinic...good story! - Nosila, 2009-03-12: 00:12:00
Another GREAT create :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-03-25: 14:03:00
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Yeastinflection
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: yeest-in-fleckt-shun
Sentence: Juanita had a very 'bubbly' personality and a bit of an off-the-wall skew on life in general and she often tried to get a 'rise' out of people by putting a bit of a yeastinflection in her approach and would ask seemingly pointless questions in order to goad her companions into making responses to what were sometimes very personal matters.
Etymology: 'yeast' (1.A microscopic fungus) and 'inflection' (1.A change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person), and a play on words on 'yeast infection'.
Braintweezer
Created by: splendiction
Pronunciation: brain tweaser
Sentence: “Please don’t give me one of those braintweezers of yours right before I have to go to bed!” Paul warned his philosophy roommate Ato. Lately, Paul, Ato and a bunch of the others had been posing many mindbenders of eachother with sharp braintweezers that stimulated unused areas of the brain. “After the last braintweez, my mind’s swelling and redness lasted for days! I lost too much sleep with the throbbing thoughts in my head...although I did realize the world is really a shallow representation of the forms!”
Etymology: From the words brain and tweezer, to pinch; it is closely related to "brainteaser" but "braintweezer" causes more of a reaction in the recipient, more lateral thinking.
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COMMENTS:
Splendid word - silveryaspen, 2009-03-12: 00:51:00
Good! - kateinkorea, 2009-03-12: 22:04:00
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Rogitate
Created by: danagerl
Pronunciation:
Sentence:
Etymology: From the Latin words meaning "question" (rogare) and "think" (cogitate)
Evoqunotion
Created by: kateinkorea
Pronunciation: ee VOKE que NO sheun
Sentence: Several times a year Dr. Miller would lay an evoqunotion on us, to get us to think outside the box. He would suddenly ask us a question that seemed very complicated and difficult, or even impossible. Usually the solution was to look for another way of interpreting the question. Of course he always used the classic ‘nine-dot’ creativity puzzle at some point in the semester-the originator of the thinking outside the box concept. Initially the students would stress over these questions for days, but near the end of the semester the students were waiting with bated breath for the next one to come out.
Etymology: EVOKE: prompt, spur QUERY: question NOTION: idea EVOLUTION: change over time
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COMMENTS:
what a foxy outboxy creative sentence. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:41:00
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Quizarre
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: kwiz-zahr
Sentence: Just to shake up her "gotta-have-the right-answer" students, the teacher gave her class a test that had nothing to do with the course of study. The teacher found it amusing. The students found it quizarre.
Etymology: quiz (an informal test or examination of a student or class) + bizarre (markedly unusual in appearance, style, or general character and often involving incongruous or unexpected elements; outrageously or whimsically strange)
Awakercise
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: əwākərsīz
Sentence: Tony had trouble getting up in the morning until he discovered Verbotomy. Now he uses it as his awakercise to get his muddled gray matter out of its nocturnal vegetative state.
Etymology: awake (stop sleeping; wake from sleep) + exercise (a task or activity done to practice or test a skill)
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COMMENTS:
zzzzzzz..Huh? - wayoffcenter, 2009-03-11: 08:23:00
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Yeastinflection
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: yeest-in-fleckt-shun
Sentence: Jeanetta had a very 'bubbly' personality and a bit of an off-the-wall skew on life in general and she often tried to get a 'rise' out of people by putting a bit of a yeastinflection in her approach and would ask seemingly pointless questions in order to goad her companions into making responses to what were sometimes very personal matters.
Etymology: yeast and inflection, and a play on words on 'yeast infection'.
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COMMENTS:
-oh, I wouln't want one of these! - splendiction, 2009-03-11: 22:09:00
You got a rise out of me, mustang...dough! - Nosila, 2009-03-12: 00:14:00
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Prodvoke
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: prädvōk
Sentence: During his weekly meetings with his staff, Larry loved to prodvoke people to think outside the box. As he was being fired, he was reminded he worked for a packaging company and that people are paid to think INSIDE the box.
Etymology: prod (an act of stimulating or reminding someone to do something) + provoke (stimulate or incite)
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COMMENTS:
carton me, but a good story! - Nosila, 2010-09-22: 18:03:00
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Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James