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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

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.

Faketivity

mrskellyscl

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.)

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Workillude

Created by: mercurious2001

Pronunciation: worl/il/lude

Sentence: I spent all day trying to workillude so that my boss stays happy.

Etymology: work and illusion

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Proletarryat

Created by: bookowl

Pronunciation: pro/le/tary/at

Sentence: A proletarryat is an expert at wasting time and looking oppressed.

Etymology: pro (expert) + tarry (delay) + at + proletariat (laboring class)

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Lindah

Created by: petersn1

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Nyetworking

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: n-yet-working

Sentence: No one quite understood what Brian did all day, but he was frequently seen corridor cruising with clipboard under his arm and dropping into offices for "urgent, critical" meetings that never achieved anything. He was excellent at nyetworking.

Etymology: nyet (no in Russian) + network + work

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COMMENTS:

nyice! - wordmeister, 2007-05-01: 09:03:00

I like it too. Notworking would have worked (or not) as well, but this is more creative and describes shwirking. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-01: 09:28:00

wish I had more votes to hand out today - very clever word and you can just imagine the cartoon character saying it - Jabberwocky, 2007-05-01: 10:42:00

OK Jabber - I'll give up one of mine. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-01: 10:59:00

OK Jabber - I'll give up one of mine. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-01: 11:04:00

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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)

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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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Slackofflage

Created by: ErWenn

Pronunciation: /ˈslækəˌflɔʒ/

Sentence: The key to successful slackofflage is an untidy workspace; if your boss can identify each paper on your desk and window on your computer screen, then you've already lost.

Etymology: From "slack off" + "camouflage"

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COMMENTS:

playdohheart nice. - playdohheart, 2007-05-01: 07:12:00

Thanks. - ErWenn, 2007-05-01: 09:20:00

Nice word, I tried going down the camouflage path but I couldn't come up with anything. Cheers! - Goldentongue, 2007-05-01: 10:14:00

Funny! - HubbMU, 2007-05-03: 12:52:00

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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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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)

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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...