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'It's all strategic positioning.'

DEFINITION: v. To create an illusion of busyness so that your co-workers, and most importantly your boss, never realize that you have absolutely nothing to do. n. A person who pretends to be very busy.

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Verboticisms

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Biznify

Created by: thinkbolt

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Knoemotion

Created by: abrakadeborah

Pronunciation: No-Moe-shun

Sentence: Able was in the midst of knoemotion all hours of the day. He would constantly ask, "is there anything I can help you with?" When I knew I could finish the project quicker than I could explain what he already knew needed to be done.

Etymology: Know - A play on the word know and no. Motion - Movement.

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Marygoround

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: merēgōround

Sentence: Mary loves to look busy. That*s the key. She likes to LOOK busy. She is a regular Marygoround. Round and round she goes getting nowhere. If she did any real work or took any initiative she could be criticized and that would upset her.

Etymology: Mary (a common first name) + merry-go-round (a revolving machine with model horses or other animals on which people ride for amusement)

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Slackrobat

karenanne

Created by: karenanne

Pronunciation: SLAK ro bat

Sentence: Robb is a talented slackrobat. He is quick and agile in his avoidance of being pinned down to actual work. His knowledge of media production enables him to circulate around his workplace claiming to be "working on a project." He has two homepage tabs set on his browser so that if someone approaches while he is working on the Verbotomy site, he can quickly click on the other tab, which is his employer's Intranet site.

Etymology: slack(er) + acrobat

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COMMENTS:

Most offices are three-ringed circuses, so they need more slackrobats! - Nosila, 2009-11-17: 17:47:00

Clever...best word of the day! - mweinmann, 2009-11-18: 07:47:00

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Exertsham

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: exert/sham

Sentence: The illusion of working is an age old problem and is also known as walking the dog, a government job, or exertsham.

Etymology: exertion + sham

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COMMENTS:

as long as the dog walkers don't shampoop and scoop - Jabberwocky, 2007-05-01: 10:36:00

i need someone to walk my shampoodle - rikboyee, 2007-05-01: 18:10:00

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Feignchorious

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: fane/chor/ee/us

Sentence: Stu was so feignchorious that he had the entire office convinced he was seriously overworked when, in fact, the stack of files on his desk were filled with sudoku puzzles.

Etymology: feign (pretend) + chore + vainglorious

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Managingdeflector

Created by: porsche

Pronunciation: man/aj/ing/de/flek/tor

Sentence: The managingdeflector in our firm had a job that no one could explain but he was paid a ton of money for walking around with his headset and blackberry

Etymology: managing director + deflect

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Rushsemblance

Created by: catgrin

Pronunciation: ruhsh-sem-bluhns

Sentence: Jerry's definitely not my fastest worker, he never seems to hit quota, but the rushsemblance he maintains during the work week is that of a dedicated, single-minded drone.

Etymology: From "rush" (to hurry) and "semblance" (outward aspect or appearance)

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Choreshaminvention

Created by: TJayzz

Pronunciation: Chor-sham-in-vent-shun

Sentence: Charles had perfected the art of the Choreshaminvention, whereby he would spend all day at his desk looking so busy when he was actually doing nothing at all. His co-workers began to wonder how he managed to cope with the workload. In fact he was so good at it that he was thinking about writing a book and perhaps even a film script about his talent

Etymology: Chore(a routine or tedious task) ORIGIN Variant of obsolete Char or Chare + Sham (Pretence, bogus, false) ORIGIN Northern English dialect variant of SHAME. + Invention (Something invented, a false story) = Choreshaminvention

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COMMENTS:

a film and a book?? way too much work - Jabberwocky, 2008-07-17: 14:07:00

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Shamployee

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: sham ploy ee

Sentence: Sam was a shamployee. He spent a lot of energy avoiding real work by pretending to be busy. He gets hundreds of calls and e-mails a day (from family, friends, telemarketers) and he has to go to endless rounds of meetings with outside contacts and on many missions to customers outside the building (movie theatres, restaurants, casinos.) Sam's not alone...there is a Sam in most companies: The Loafer in the shoe store or bakery; the Abstainer in the paint company; the Clock-Watcher in the Watch Factory; The Wool-gatherer in the sheep station; The Idler in the mechanic shop; The Slacker in the men's wear store;The Sluggard in the Garden Centre; The Lazybones at the Orthopedic Surgeon's; the Trifler in the cake shop...they are everywhere!

Etymology: Sham (something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be;a person who makes deceitful pretenses;make believe with the intent to deceive) & Employee (a worker who is hired to perform a job)

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-01: 00:31:00
Today's definition was suggested by petaj.
Thank you petaj! ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-01: 01:33:00
Congratulations to petaj for her win last week. We are offering a new Verbotomy Cup for the top player this week. And next week, we are doing theme on Cory Doctorow, and offering his newest book "Overclocked" as a prize to the top writer. See more about Cory at his blog www.craphound.com ~ James

metrohumanx metrohumanx - 2008-07-17: 00:58:00
A word that NEEDS no introduction...