Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: n. A mixture of delight and guilt felt when a colleague, whom you despise, suffers a misfortune. v. To feel bad about feeling good when something bad happens to someone who is definitely not good.
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.
Melanjolly
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: mel-uhn-jol-ee
Sentence: Joyce had a case of menanjolly when she heard that her major rival was being let go over a conflict of interest issue. The fact that she had presented him with the opportunity to do so pinged on her conscience just a little, but she got over that quickly.
Etymology: melancholy (depressed, sad) + jolly (laughing, joyful)
Karmalevolence
Created by: Tigger
Pronunciation: /kahr-muh-LEV-uh-lents/
Sentence: Almost all of the women in the office thought Dean, the assistant manager, was a cheauvanistic jerk — he was just a creep. When he was eventually fired, he was escorted out of the office by security, his box of belongings in-hand. As the door closed behind him, everyone exchanged surprized glances, but a couple of the women recognized the look of karmalevolence on Jennifer's face. She was ecstatic that he was gone, but she suddenly wondered if any of her complaints to HR had anything to do with it... and if he had any kids. 'Oh well', she thought, as she marked a big smiley face on today's date on her desk calendar.
Etymology: Karma - in Buddhism, the sum of a person's actions in one life, which determine his form in the next (from Sanskrit, karman "action, fate") + Malevolence - feeling of ill will toward another person or thing (from Latin, malevolentem "bad wish")
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COMMENTS:
Great blend. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-06-17: 02:55:00
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Remirth
Created by: mcpuffersons
Pronunciation: re-murth
Sentence: Jane was filled with remirth when she found that John hadn't gotten the promotion he had wanted.
Etymology: remorse + mirth.
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COMMENTS:
Maybe all that emotion was brought on by her terrible lisp. - petaj, 2007-03-25: 04:15:00
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Pityheehee
Created by: CharlieB
Pronunciation: pit-ee-hee-hee
Sentence: The size of her evil boss's bonus compared to her own meagre income was such that she only felt pityheehee when he was made redundant.
Etymology: pity (feeling of sympathy and compassion) + hee hee (laughter)
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COMMENTS:
unLaoise'd a monster :) - galwaywegian, 2011-02-01: 11:51:00
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Elatshame
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: e/lay/shame
Sentence: "There's Joe that no good rotten pig. I wish he would die!!!" thought Jenny as Joe entered the office. At that moment, Joe tripped, fell and hit his head. Jenny was shocked, surprised and filled with elatshame.
Etymology: ELATSHAME - noun - from - ELATION (an exhilarating psychological state) + SHAME (the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, or improper)
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COMMENTS:
terrific - Jabberwocky, 2008-06-16: 12:33:00
too bad jenny mistook joe for george. - stache, 2008-06-16: 23:59:00
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Schuldeschadenfreude
Created by: catgrin
Pronunciation: shool-de-shahd-n-froi-duh
Sentence: Kathy'd thought of herself as a "mean girl" so her schuldeschadenfreude at Betty's car accident (Betty'd always flaunted that Mercedes!) was something of a shock.
Etymology: Basically a compound German word, this is based on a combination of "Schuld" (guilt) and "Schadenfreude" (pleasure at the misfortune of others) which is an already accepted, and surprisingly rarely used word in the English language.
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COMMENTS:
I schuld've known! - Alchemist, 2007-03-23: 07:40:00
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Karmahap
Created by: remistram
Pronunciation: kar-mah-hap
Sentence: When Tish found out that her ex-boss Larry broke his neck while skiing, she felt such overwhelming karmahap that she actually wrote something kind in his well card, despite the fact that when she worked for him years ago he repeatedly told her she was fat and had body odor.
Etymology: karma + happy
Sympaglee
Created by: ShaggE
Pronunciation:
Sentence: "I felt a bit of sympaglee when the guy who kept stealing my pens was fired."
Etymology: Sympathy+ Glee
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COMMENTS:
Good word! Totally understandable without a Verbotomy dictionary. - purpleartichokes, 2007-03-23: 14:30:00
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Sadpy
Created by: Koekbroer
Pronunciation: sad-pee
Sentence: When Rachel heard that her office enemy had spilled her coffee all over her own laptop she became very sadpy.
Etymology: contraction of "sad" and "happy"
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by Discoveria.
Thank you Discoveria! ~ James
Discoveria - 2007-03-23: 10:56:00
That was quick...
ErWenn - 2007-03-23: 10:56:00
Don't really know how to top schuldeshadenfreude here.
mplsbohemian - 2007-03-24: 22:20:00
The trouble is that there is a word for this in English: schadenfreude.
Discoveria - 2007-03-26: 12:07:00
I've been told already. catgrin and James decided that schadenfreude refers to the satisfaction, and this verboticism refers to feeling guilt over having that satisfaction.
Hey mplsbohemian, Alchemist summed it up nicely with etymology for Guiltenfreude: "schadenfreude (pleasure at the misfortune of others) with guilt."
Today's definition was suggested by Discoveria. Thank you Discoveria. ~ James