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'My mother is a washing machine'

DEFINITION: n. The sacrifice a mother makes when she gives everything to her children, including life itself, and then simply lets them go. v. To give someone everything and then watch them walk away.

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Verboticisms

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Philanmomthropy

Created by: Jocoman

Pronunciation: fill-an-mom-thra-pee

Sentence: Philanthropy is an important and generous thing, where a rich man gives something back to the community, but philanmomthropy is greater, because my mother gave me her everything without ever expecting a return.

Etymology: philanthropy + mom

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Pansacrifigo

Created by: duchessella

Pronunciation: pan-SA-cri-fi-go

Sentence: Lily Potter, mother of Harry Potter, is the prodigo of pansacrifigo. (prodigo of pansacrifigo... it sounds NICE!)

Etymology: Pan (all) + sacrifice + go And it sounds very Spanish!

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Divorfeit

Created by: iwasatripwire

Pronunciation: di-vor-fit

Sentence: My poor mother had a hard time letting me go to college so far away, but eventually she came to terms with her divorfeit

Etymology: divorce (in the separation sense, not the end-of-a-marriage sense) + forfeit

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Mumblebee

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: mum bil bee

Sentence: Busy Lizzie was a Queen Bee who lays thousands of eggs in her honeycomb. One of her offspring was chosen to be the next Queen. Despite the fact that Busy Lizzie laid 2000 eggs a day and ruined her figure, it stung for her to be overthrown by her own kids. The way they treated their Mumblebee was enough to give you hives. At least that's the buzz...

Etymology: Mum (mother) & Wordplay on Bumblebee (robust hairy social bee of temperate regions)

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Sacremancipate

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: sak remans ee payt

Sentence: She had done all she could for Little Robin... gave him life, fed him, cleaned him, taught him about life and kept him warm. It was now the time to sacremancipate him. His educatgion would continue at a higher level. Now that he knew where to look for the choicest worms, how to avoid predators and how to sing to attract a mate, Mother Nature would continue his education and teach him how to migrate each fall and return each spring. It was very sad each year when they left the nest to make it on their own.

Etymology: Sacrifice (the act of losing or surrendering something as a penalty for a mistake or fault or failure to perform etc.) & Emancipate (liberate, free from slavery or servitude)

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Mombotomy

Created by: toadstool57

Pronunciation: mom-bot-oh-mee

Sentence: It took 4 years of college and not returning countless phone calls from her mom but Jill was finally able to perform a successful mombotomy.

Etymology: Mom, lobotomy

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Momligation

Created by: Clayton

Pronunciation: mom-li-GEY-shuhn

Sentence: Momligation is bittersweet, but it was Linda's prostitutelage that became the subject of some concern.

Etymology: mom + obligation

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COMMENTS:

and possibly some momlitigation! - galwaywegian, 2007-05-11: 06:29:00

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Giventry

Created by: thesmeagle

Pronunciation: giv-en-tree

Sentence: When she mother gave him the money she would have used to buy a condo in Hawaii to start his business, Bradley was moved to tears by his mother's giventry.

Etymology: From the children's book, The Giving Tree

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Parentharsis

Created by: Discoveria

Pronunciation: parr-EN-far-siss

Sentence: After her son Jack left home to start at university, Mary felt a great sense of parentharsis.

Etymology: parent + catharsis (release from strong emotions)

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Sprogression

CharlieB

Created by: CharlieB

Pronunciation: sprog-resh-shun

Sentence: Cynthia was sad to see her first born leave home - particularly in such a flippant and nonchalant manner. But she sighed and waved, knowing that her thankless task of bringing up baby was a natural sprogression.

Etymology: sprog (slang for child) & progression (advancing, moving forward)

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 04:01:00
Today's definition was inspired by Cory Doctorow's novel Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, which is a story about a guy who's mother is literally a washing machine. It's a great read! And since this weekend is Mother's Day, it seems like the perfect fit! I was also thinking about "After the Siege" in Overclocked, where a mother pushes herself beyond exhaustion trying to save her child - the sacrifice. And purpleartichokes inadvertently suggested the mother idea with her comments on the younger degeneration. Thank you Cory and purpleartichokes! ~ James

ErWenn - 2007-05-11: 09:39:00
I noticed that many verbotomists focussed on the "letting go" part of the definition as the key, while others treated it as just one small part of the maternal sacrifice. I'm sure it says something about our personalities, but I'm not sure what.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 03:23:00
We have posted The Petaj Splinterview on the Verbotomy Blog. ~ James

Bulletchewer - 2007-05-11: 16:55:00
I "have issues" because I advocate free speech as opposed to miserable hypocrisy of censorship? HUSH

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 17:17:00
Hey Bulletchewer, I replaced four letters in your message with non-alphanumeric symbols. Did that make you unhappy? ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 18:59:00
Hey ErWenn, I agree with you. The words and language we choose to use do indeed reflect our personalities. And with a definition like today's, there are many different viewpoints, so it gets complicated... I guess that's why they have Freudian psychiatrists. ~ James

Bulletchewer - 2007-05-11: 19:18:00
It made me THE most $@*#ing miserable crybaby in the whole world! Just kidding.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 20:20:00
Me too. But that's okay, it's a game ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 20:21:00
Anyways, in many parts of the world, this Sunday is Mother's Day, so I would like to remind all our verbotomists to take appropriate action (e.g. buy flowers). And to all our verbotomists who happen to be mothers, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for your wonderful creativity. ~ James

ohwtepph ohwtepph - 2007-05-11: 20:53:00
*gasp* I am so honored. Petaj used my word TWICE!!! in his splinterview. Now, I can die peacefully.

Clayton - 2007-05-12: 17:21:00
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the highest scoring words often do not reflect the part of speech suggested by the definition? Occasionally, this can be somewhat difficult to determine from a given description, but "the sacrifice a mother makes" clearly indicates that this word is meant to be a noun. Just nitpicking.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-12: 23:53:00
Hey Clayton, I have made a blog posting about this question. See: Parts of Speech and Verbotomy. It will be very interesting to hear what ErWenn has to say about this issue, since he also asked similar questions. ~ James

petaj petaj - 2007-05-13: 00:47:00
Clearly I should have mentioned that ohwtepph can also be relied on for coming up with not only amusing words, but very useful additions to everyday language.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-11-27: 00:01:00
Today's definition was suggested by doctorow. Thank you doctorow. ~ James