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.
Mudderlode
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: mudd/ur/lode
Sentence: Breastfeeding five children over a span of eighteen years demonstates a mudderlode of motherly love.
Etymology: mother lode + udder
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)
Sprogression
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)
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
Matridoricide
Created by: cohenarie
Pronunciation:
Sentence:
Etymology: latin words for mother, gift and murder
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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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)
Mumacrifice
Created by: remistram
Pronunciation: mum-ak-rih-fyce
Sentence: Only when Ethel became a mother herself did she truly understand her own mother's mumacrifices.
Etymology: mum + sacrifice
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
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