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.
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:
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
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
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)
----------------------------
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
----------------------------
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'
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).
Nurturifice
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: NERT-shur-reh-fice
Sentence: Ma Maribel put aside her own wishes as she spent half a lifetime to nurturifice her children, only to watch dry eyed as the left the 'nest' to pursue their own interests.
Etymology: Blend of the words 'Nurture' (rearing, upbringing, training) and 'Sacrifice' (the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim)
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)
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
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
Zehr gut! - Nosila, 2009-11-29: 11:57:00
----------------------------
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