Vote for the best verboticism.
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.
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.
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)
Mamartyrdom
Created by: ErWenn
Pronunciation: /məˈmɑːɹtɚˌdʌm/
Sentence: A rose and a card once a year easily make up for her mamartyrdom.*
Etymology: From mama + martyrdom
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COMMENTS:
*Yes, this is sarcasm. My mother deserves a helluva lot more than I can give. But she'll have to settle for a batch of oatmeal banana chocolate chip cookies this year. - ErWenn, 2007-05-11: 09:34:00
Wow! Those cookies sound great! Where'd ya get the recipe? - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-11: 12:21:00
The missing connection between "Magdalena" and "REV 22:20"? I'll ask Mr Keenan. - Bulletchewer, 2007-05-11: 16:41:00
The recipe is a modification I made of an Alton Brown recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies. I can send you a copy if you want. - ErWenn, 2007-05-12: 21:42:00
Maybe your recipe could be shared on the blog. - petaj, 2007-05-13: 00:34:00
made me laugh! - pguse, 2007-06-01: 14:25:00
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Progeflee
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: präjəflē
Sentence: Theirs was a dysfunctional household. As each child approached the age of majority the urge to progeflee became stronger and stronger. Some went off to college, some found friends to room with. None made any effort to move back home.
Etymology: progeny (a descendant or the descendants of a person) + flee (run away from a place or situation)
Matridoricide
Created by: cohenarie
Pronunciation:
Sentence:
Etymology: latin words for mother, gift and murder
Gestashun
Created by: porsche
Pronunciation: jest/ay/shun
Sentence: She enjoyed the pregnancy but loved the gestashun more - fortunately she had a stay at home husband
Etymology: gestation + shun
Maternityield
Created by: petaj
Pronunciation: ma-TURN-et-yield
Sentence: Maternityield manifests itself in many ways throughout the lifecycle. First she yields physically, then has to give up full control of her career and lifestyle, and eventually her car (and don't forget to top up the petrol before you get home, drive carefully) and then after all those years the little darlings take off leaving her in an empty nest.
Etymology: maternity + yield
Weanherschitzel
Created by: whipspeak
Pronunciation: ween-hur-shit-suhl
Sentence: On her son Myron's 23rd birthday, Fran served weanherschitzel.
Etymology: wean: to withhold mother's milk from (the young of a mammal) and substitute other nourishment. + her: the possessive form of she + schitzel: whipspeak for unappreciative offspring
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COMMENTS:
Zehr gut! - Nosila, 2009-11-29: 11:57:00
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Parentplegic
Created by: janatic
Pronunciation:
Sentence: I'd love to go out tonight, but we had an accident last night and i'm afraid i've become parentplegic.
Etymology: parent + paraplegic
Spawndios
Created by: purpleartichokes
Pronunciation: spawn-dee-ohs
Sentence: Sending my son off to college was an emotional spawndios; almost as emotional as watching him miss the bus for the very first time... on the first day of school. (His stellar career as professional bus-misser commenced shortly thereafter.)
Etymology: spawn, adios (traditional Spanish goodbye)
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COMMENTS:
okay purple - "tit for tat" - spawndios navidad - spandios navidad - Prospero año y spandiosidad - Jabberwocky, 2007-05-11: 12:25:00
Oh dear. They're gonna think I'm a Looneytune when I start humming it 7 months before xmas. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-11: 13:13:00
Like the connotation of "dios"- the Spanish for "god". Mary's getting everywhere today, or rather, my wild imagination has put her there... more pills, chief? - Bulletchewer, 2007-05-11: 16:46:00
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Albotify
Created by: blinkinglight
Pronunciation: Al-Bo-Tee-Fuy
Sentence: I haven't fully understood the hidden message in the commercial, could you please albotify?
Etymology:
Comments:
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.
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
Hey Bulletchewer, I replaced four letters in your message with non-alphanumeric symbols. Did that make you unhappy? ~ James
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.
Me too. But that's okay, it's a game ~ James
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
*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.
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
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.
Today's definition was suggested by doctorow. Thank you doctorow. ~ James