Vote for the best verboticism.
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.
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.
Workfake
Created by: suzanne
Pronunciation: wur-k-fayk
Sentence: John workfaked his way home early by carrying out three telephone directories wrapped in envelopes to his car. His boss opened the door for him.
Etymology: work- to labour fake - false
Seemulanting
Created by: jonobo
Pronunciation: like "simulating" but with an emphased "ANT" (yes the little insect), and "seem" and "mule" is also included - so it depends a bit on your mood how you pronounce it - but the easy way: simulanting.
Sentence: He was seemulanting the hell out of his secret new project. He was seemulanting so good, that he seemed to be a whole state of ants in one person and a hard working mule at the same time, he was not only seemulanting, he was "The Seem-Mule-Ant-Thing".
Etymology: Simulate + Seem + Mule + Ants (they always seem so busy).
Feigndustrious
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: fayn - dus - tree - us
Sentence: On his good days Harold was feigndustrious as he at least pretended to be busy for most of the day. On his bad days, he sat at his desk and played solitaire with a deck of cards but no one seemed to notice but me.
Etymology: fein, industrious
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COMMENTS:
good one - Nosila, 2009-11-17: 17:48:00
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Sleightofhandyman
Created by: ziggy41
Pronunciation: slyte-ov-han-dee-man
Sentence: Watch Joe over there, his use of sleightofhandyman may make a manager think twice about giving him work, but he's been nailing that same nail for the past hour.
Etymology: Sleight of hand (trickery, deception) + handyman (a worker hired to do various jobs)
Nulldrudgery
Created by: Lifeforce
Pronunciation:
Sentence: The boss fell victim to my nulldrudgery.
Etymology:
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COMMENTS:
I like this word, but it sounds more like the sort of work that you have to do despite the fact that it accomplishes nothing. - ErWenn, 2007-05-01: 22:03:00
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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)
Scampress
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: skam-PRESS
Sentence: Jonathan had various ways to scampress his coworkers and supervisors by making it appear that he was not only hard at work but was performing above and beyond his experience level while actually being totally incompetent in his real job.
Etymology: Blend of the words 'scam' (a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation) and 'impress' (influence in opinion)
Shirkcrafting
Created by: jedijawa
Pronunciation: shirk-craft-ing
Sentence: Betsy has honed the skill of shirkcrafting so that she can manage to get no work done during a day with nobody being the wiser.
Etymology: shirk + crafting
Faketivity
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: fake-tiv-i-ty
Sentence: Wally was so well practiced in the art of faketivity that his pointy haired boss never knew that in 20 years he never once accomplished a single task. It was probably a good thing since Wally was so incompetent that he probably would have caused the company to go belly up if he had actually done any work. It was especially laughable that he won employee-of-the-month several times because the pointy haired boss thought he was really working hard.
Etymology: fake: having a false or misleading appearance; fraud + activity: the state of being active; energetic, lively; participate in specific pursuits (Wally is a character in the comic strip Dilbert who is always standing around holding a coffee cup, going to meetings and getting involved in conversations without ever actually working. Nevertheless he somehow always manages to stay under the pointy haired boss' radar and collect his paycheck.)
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)
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by petaj.
Thank you petaj! ~ James
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
A word that NEEDS no introduction...