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.
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
Bratlifice
Created by: katytee
Pronunciation:
Sentence: After 28 years of bratlifice, Mary ran away to Tuscany with the milkman.
Etymology: brats + life + sacrifice
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COMMENTS:
nice word. anywhere but Bratislava would probably have sufficed. - galwaywegian, 2007-05-11: 06:27:00
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Matridoricide
Created by: cohenarie
Pronunciation:
Sentence:
Etymology: latin words for mother, gift and murder
Matrifice
Created by: eiggy
Pronunciation: 'matt-ri-fice (ri-fice as in sacrifice)
Sentence: Mrs. Jones raised Bobby on the best cereal, laundry detergent, and education money can buy. She spent every waking moment making his life meaningful. What matrifice!
Etymology: matri - from Latin mater 'mother' and fice - from facere 'make'
Chilflessness
Created by: Rhyme79
Pronunciation: chill-fuh-less-ness
Sentence: "My neighbour displayed such chilflessness when her son left the nest, it was quite moving."
Etymology: An amalgam of the words 'child' and 'selflessness'.
Sacriglect
Created by: jedijawa
Pronunciation: sack-ree-glect
Sentence: Julie tended to sacriglect for her child in that she would give all that she could and then give up before the end.
Etymology: sacrifice + neglect
Lifeprovisionist
Created by: guesser
Pronunciation: Life + pro + vision + ist
Sentence: Her journey consisted of being a lifeprovisonist , a choice she would make out of the love in her heart.
Etymology:
Materiavitae
Created by: mishmish
Pronunciation:
Sentence:
Etymology: Well, it's all Latin. It means "material of life", and it also starts with the sounds of the Latin word for mother (Mater).
Fledglemming
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: flejlemng
Sentence: Joyce watched with angst as her fledglemming packed to go off to college. Sure she and his father have given Jason great life lessons and done their best to prepare him for this day, he seems to be taking it much too casually. With a simple hug and kiss he is off to act as if he knows how to make his own decisions like an adult.
Etymology: fledgling (a young bird that has just fledged) + lemming (a person who unthinkingly joins a mass movement, esp. a headlong rush to destruction)
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