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.
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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Sacriprice
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: sac-ri-price
Sentence: As a good mother, you pay the ultimate sacriprice when you watch the object of your total devotion walk out the door into the arms of the future. It's a bittersweet moment, and it stings for a while, until mother realizes that now she and daddy can go back to dating; eating and drinking whatever they want, and having sex wherever and whenever they want like they did the night their child was conceived. On top of that -- the heat, food and water bills plummet and there's always clean towels in the closet. An empty nest isn't so bad after all and it's well worth the sacriprice.
Etymology: sacrifice: complete giving to a specific person or cause + price: cost
Matrisacrifract
Created by: mplsbohemian
Pronunciation: matt-rih-SACK-rih-fract
Sentence: Though she meant well, Alex was glad when his mother reached the point of matrisacrifract.
Etymology: matri- + sacrif(ice) + fract(ure) [a sacrifice followed by a break]. And, c'mon, it's just fun to say. :)
Cordummycut
Created by: Bulletchewer
Pronunciation: cord-um-mee-cut or core-dumm-me-cut
Sentence: Oedipus was a little too grateful for the times before the cordummycut; he longed to go back...
Etymology: From "umbilical cord" meaning "child's lifeline", "mummy" meaning "bandaged corpse", "dummy" meaning "pacifier or scariest type of hand puppet" and "cut" meaning "please stop, actors".
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COMMENTS:
Just realised this weirdly puns on the name of the dude who inspired the definition (yet again, so famous I've never heard of him). - Bulletchewer, 2007-05-11: 11:54:00
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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'
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)
Martyrnal
Created by: rikboyee
Pronunciation: mar-terr-nul
Sentence: She started sacrificing all of her outside interests when her martyrnal instinct kicked in
Etymology: martyr, maternal
Motherrender
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: mothur - end - ur
Sentence: It was a supreme motherrender for Bitsy to let Marcus leave. She had sacrificed everything she had for his schooling and now he was moving half way across the continent.
Etymology: mother, surrender, render (To give up; yield; surrender)
Mudderlode
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: mud/ur/lowd
Sentence: Breastfeeding five children over a span of eighteen years demonstates a mudderlode of motherly love.
Etymology: mother lode + udder
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COMMENTS:
haha, nice. you got my vote! XD - ohwtepph, 2007-05-11: 06:50:00
Great! Mudderload would work too! - toadstool57, 2007-05-11: 08:04:00
Mammaries... light the corners of my mind... (uh-oh) - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-11: 08:12:00
Grr... purple!! milky watercolour mammaries.... and yes toadstool57 mudderload is good - Jabberwocky, 2007-05-11: 09:12:00
Try using "Louie Louie" to exorcise Barbara Streisand. Nobody knows the lyrics to it. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-11: 11:17:00
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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