Vote for the best verboticism.

'What's with this stupid pen?'

DEFINITION: v., To search for and find a pen to write down an important note, only to discover that the pen does not work. n., A moment in time when the only pens you can find, are pens that do not work.

Create | Read

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.

Extink

Created by: mplsbohemian

Pronunciation: ehks-TINGK

Sentence: Alex scrambled to write down the girl's phone number, only to find that the only writing utensil was extink.

Etymology: extinct + ink

| Comments and Points

Inkompentense

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: ink kom pen tens

Sentence: Inkredibly inkonvenient is what he thought. Here he was trying to find a pen that worked to write down the number given him on the phone message he had just accidentally erased from his answering machine...while that number was still in his head. His inklination was to give up, but it would be inkonsiderate to not call back and arrange that interview. Heaven knows his inkome relied upon his getting hired for this great job. At this moment, without a functioning pen, he was in a state of inkompentense. Luckily, he found his cell phone and managed to get the number inkarcerated into it, before it was lost in the fog of poor memory. Hopefully he would not sound inkoherent at his interview...

Etymology: Incompetence (inability of a part or organ to function properly) & Ink (a liquid used for printing or writing or drawing) & Pen (writing implement) & Tense (make tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious;a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time)

| Comments and Points

Montblanked

Created by: Kyoti

Pronunciation: Mahnt-blaynkt

Sentence: Rudy scribbled and scratched on his legal pad, leaving dozens of swirly deep grooves, but no discernible ink marks of any kind appeared on his paper, and he was forced to accept that he'd just been completely montblanked.

Etymology: Mont Blanc: fancy French pens with fancy French price tags + Blanked: a term sportscasters like to use to indicate a shutout, especially when referring to the visiting team.

----------------------------
COMMENTS:

so many great words today! - Jabberwocky, 2008-10-03: 09:48:00

----------------------------

| Comments and Points

Ninscribe

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: nin-skrahyb

Sentence: It doesn't matter how many pens he owns, Larry always finds the one that has no ink and proceeds to ninscribe whatever urgent message he is trying to retain. Some of his pens even play jokes on him by writing a few works before transforming into paper scratchers.

Etymology: ninja (mercenary in feudal Japan reported to possess the ability to be invisible) + inscribe (to mark a surface with words, characters, etc.)

| Comments and Points

Birony

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: by ro nee

Sentence: The birony was that when Eddie needed a pawn to record a message, he could never find one. Nevermind all his pens were MontBlanc's, Crosses and other expensive names, none worked properly, not even the uBICuitous free ones he collected!

Etymology: Biro (a pen that has a small metal ball as the point of transfer of ink to paper)& Irony ( incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs)

| Comments and Points

Pendicament

Created by: Eyeshah

Pronunciation: /pen-DIK-uh-mint/

Sentence: Pennelope found herself in quite the pendicament (quilemma) when her professor decided to give a pop quiz, and her backpack rummagings for a functional pen proved fruitless.

Etymology: pen+predicament=pendicament

| Comments and Points

Pendaver

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: pen/daver

Sentence: It's another of Murphy's Laws that writing utensils turn into pendavers when an important message needs to be scribbled.

Etymology: PENDAVER noun - from PEN (instrument for writing) + CADAVER (a dead body)

----------------------------
COMMENTS:

I bet Dexter has several pendavers - Jabberwocky, 2008-10-03: 09:47:00

Good word - OZZIEBOB, 2008-10-05: 17:35:00

----------------------------

| Comments and Points

Frupenstration

Created by: remistram

Pronunciation: fruh-pen-strey-shun

Sentence: By digging a small grave for all his old pens helped his frupenstration anxiety, but he did keep his favorite purple pen under his pillow - in case the pen fairy happened to come around.

Etymology: frustration + pen

----------------------------
COMMENTS:

has a great sound to it - would be very satisfying to mutter when searching for a pen - Jabberwocky, 2007-11-06: 14:03:00

thanks! I was going to go with fruspentration, but it sounded odd...! - remistram, 2007-11-06: 16:20:00

----------------------------

| Comments and Points

Penmurphy

Created by: cawnpore

Pronunciation:

Sentence: When he finally met her and got Jessica's phone number, he penmurphied (and later that evening killed himself).

Etymology: pen+murphy (from Murphy's law)

| Comments and Points

Pennotwritis

Created by: tuckerdognc

Pronunciation: Pen-not-wri-tis

Sentence: I can't believe I have pennotwritis again. I could have sworn I threw all these out.

Etymology: thought to be from the latin, pendenitis, the affliction caused by having too many pens.

| Comments and Points

Show All or More...

 

Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-11-06: 00:01:00
Today's definition was suggested by vixphilia. Thank you vixphilia! ~ James'

OZZIEBOB - 2007-11-06: 16:53:00
Good word!

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-03-03: 00:16:00
Today's definition was suggested by vixphilia. Thank you vixphilia. ~ James

Petrikreink - 2020-03-03: 05:14:00