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.
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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Mumlinquish
Created by: fredm
Pronunciation:
Sentence: "Typical mumlinquish behaviour", exclaimed the conductor as she forced her children onto the bus, knowing she would have to wait for the next one.
Etymology: Mum + relinquish
Babsication
Created by: oren22
Pronunciation: Bab pronuonced like tab.
Sentence: the first smile from a new born child, is worth all the babsication a mother has to make.
Etymology:
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:
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
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
Emomcipate
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: i/mom/suh/-peyt
Sentence: After nine months of eating all the right foods,countless nights of discomfort and no drugs , or alcohol, she was ready to emomcipate her child.
Etymology: mom + emancipate
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