Vote for the best verboticism.

'The pants are blowing in the wind'

DEFINITION: n. A misheard or misunderstood lyric, which gives the song a completely different meaning than originally intended. v. To misinterpret a song because you "hear" different words than the ones actually being sung.

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Verboticisms

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Adversapropism

Created by: emdeejay

Pronunciation: Add verse à propism

Sentence: Wayne was of those amateur guitarists who seemed to know only half the words of the songs in his repertoire. When he gave his son an impromptu rendition of what he *thought* was "Sonny Be Good", his wife gave him the nickname "Dog Berry"

Etymology: Verse: component of a song that isn't a chorus. Malapropism: misuse of words, often humorously. Adverse: That doesn't sound quite right does it?

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COMMENTS:

clever combo - Jabberwocky, 2009-05-05: 11:13:00

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Misunderheard

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: mis-under-herd

Sentence: Grandma shrugged, "You kids today with your hippity-hop and stupid lyrics -- why when I was young we had songs with meaning!" She sighed wistfully and began to sing to herself, "Knock, knock, knocking on Kevin's door." Grandpa stood up, "You've been singing that song wrong for the past 50 years, old woman. It's "Knock, knock knockin' on heaven's door" for crying out loud." "Well, I guess I misunderheard the lyrics, excuuuuuse me. And if you correct me again in front of the grandkids you'll be knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door sooner than you think."

Etymology: misunderstood: improperly understood or interpreted + heard

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COMMENTS:

wonderful word... - mweinmann, 2009-05-05: 08:34:00

I just noticed that you used one of the same song title's in your sentence as I did....only I think Kevin is funnier tha Evan!!! - mweinmann, 2009-05-05: 08:34:00

There's a herd of misunderheard today! Goodjob, mrsk! - Nosila, 2009-05-05: 22:15:00

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Moundofgreen

Created by: Eightbhall

Pronunciation: Mound-of-green

Sentence: Billy had been told that the classic Two Ronies Fork Handles scetch was based on a moundofgreen, which was strange as he remembered it being set in a shop and not a grassy hill. Either way he had seen it so often that it was now no longer funny but tired and stale; a moundofgreen-and mouldy.

Etymology: A possible mondegreen of the word mondegreen.

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Misconsturpulate

hyperborean

Created by: hyperborean

Pronunciation: mis-con-sterp-you-layt

Sentence: History Lesson: Dylan didn't want people to misconsturpulate "Subterranean Homesick Blues," so he wrote key lyrics on flash cards and displayed them during the song ... and filmed the whole thing. The music video was born.

Etymology: misconstrue (to misinterpret) + extrapolate (to infer [unknown information] from known information) + my quirky spelling and pronunciation sound funnier

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COMMENTS:

flawless, once again, word, etymology, and as always the sentence - DrWebster111, 2009-05-06: 00:31:00

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Oopsydittie

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: oōpsēditē

Sentence: Everybody was used to hearing Jeff humming his favorite song as he went through his day. What they didn’t know until last Saturday night at the karaoke was that Jeff’s head contained an oopsydittie. As he belted out his fave, his friends realized he hadn’t gotten a single lyric right.

Etymology: oops (used to show recognition of a mistake or minor accident, often as part of an apology) + upsy-daisy (used to express encouragement to a child who has fallen or is being lifted) + dittie (a short simple song)

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Eddievedderizm

Created by: BeauKnows

Pronunciation: Eddie-Vedder-Iz-Um

Sentence: One day in 1992 a man named Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready wrote a hit song called yellow ledbetter. "Did he just say wizard or a whale?" "Box or a bag?" Or "Potato waven?" Who cares its EddieVedderizm.

Etymology: Eddie + Vedder + Izm

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Lyricnorance

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: lir-ik-ner-uhns

Sentence: John's lyricnorance led him to some strange conclusions about some of his favorite song writers. He thinks Jimi Hendrix was gay because of 'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy' and that some member of Creedence Clearwater Revival was incontinent when they sang 'There's a bathroom on the right'. His friends just howl when they take him out for karaoke night.

Etymology: lyrics (words to a song) + ignorance (lack of knowledge, inexperience)

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Mystlyrical

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: mist/leer/i/cal

Sentence: One of the funniest mystlyricals I've heard was an interpretation of a line from the Eagles Hotel California 'On a dark desert highway, cool whip in my hair'

Etymology: mystical (secret)+ lyric + missed

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COMMENTS:

It's a lot like verbotomy...You can check out, but you can never leave! - Nosila, 2009-05-05: 22:17:00

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Leericks

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: lee rix

Sentence: As he aged and started losing his hearing, George found listening to songs on the oldies radio harder to do. The main reason was the strange leericks written for each tune. He could never figure out why Tammy sang, "Stan, bite your man" or why Johnny Rivers sang, "Secret Asian Man" or why Bon Jovi sang, "You give love a bandaid"or why Jimi Hendrix sang, "Scuse me while I kiss this guy". And every time he heard CCR's Bad Moon Rising, "there's a bathroom on the right"...he found he needed to use one.

Etymology: Leer (a suggestive or sneering look or grin;a facial expression of contempt or scorn; the upper lip curls) & Lyrics(the text or words of a popular song or musical-comedy number) & Icks (yucky things)

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Melohdear

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: mel o deer

Sentence: Jackie Chan was motivated by a 1966 hit by Johnny Rivers. He said it inspired him to play the tough guys in all his many movies. While learning the English language, the melohdear which inspired his career was "Secret Asian Man"!

Etymology: Melody (tune;musical notes in sequence) & Oh Dear (worrying phrase when something goes wrong, like Oh, My;Oh, Drat, etc)

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-05-04: 00:01:01
Today's definition was suggested by mrskellyscl (misinterpreted words) and by abrakadeborah (misinterpreted meanings). And of course, by Bob Dylan's classic song about doing the laundry -- Blowing in the Wind ~ James

abrakadeborah - 2009-05-05: 01:02:00
Thank you James~ Cartoon was great! & To mrskellyscl,Oh how I can relate to that one! I have an ex boyfriend that no matter what song he hears NONE of the words match as he tries to sing along! Too funny! :) LOL

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-11-17: 00:36:00
Today's definition was suggested by mrskellyscl. Thank you mrskellyscl. ~ James