Vote for the best verboticism.
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.
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.
Emptipendink
Created by: NeuroGlyph
Pronunciation: Empty-Pend-Ink
Sentence: It is better to be pendink on a sharpened pencil than emptipendink on a non-working pen.
Etymology: Independent/dependent...sub the dent w/ink.
Ballpointless
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: bôlˌpoint lis
Sentence: Rusty had a wonderful idea. This happened so infrequently that it seemed imperative to write it down. He reached for a ballpointless pen and proceeded to do little more than tear a hole in a piece of paper. This whole exercise was ballpointless. He then had to try his entire collection of paper scratchers. As he looked at the advertising message on a pen and wondered where he had pilfered each one, the original thought he wanted to save for humanity slowly faded away, never to return.
Etymology: ballpoint (a pen with a tiny ball as its writing point) + pointless (having little or no sense, use, or purpose)
Pendaver
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: pen/daver
Sentence: It's another of Murphy's Laws that writing utilsils turn into pendavers when an important message needs to be scribbled.
Etymology: pen + cadaver
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COMMENTS:
kinda gruesome but apt - porsche, 2007-11-06: 14:05:00
Good word! - OZZIEBOB, 2007-11-06: 16:54:00
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Peninsulate
Created by: QuantumMechanic
Pronunciation: pen en suh late
Sentence: I knew the answer, but I didn't couldn't call in to win, because I was peninsulated -- all of the pens I found were dead.
Etymology: pen (ink writing instrument) + insulate (isolate), parallel to peninsula (an isolated spit of land)
Sypened
Created by: annbananne
Pronunciation: sigh pend
Sentence: When you really need to write something down you usually can only find sypens.
Etymology: syphen: ink was syphened out pen: pen (duh)
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COMMENTS:
good one! - Jabberwocky, 2007-11-06: 13:52:00
I like it too! - OZZIEBOB, 2007-11-06: 16:57:00
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Ninscribe
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.)
Scribulation
Created by: milorush
Pronunciation: (n.) skrĭb'yə-lā'shən; (intr. v.) skrĭb'yə-lāt'; (adj.) skrĭb'yə-lā'əd
Sentence: Mario suffered a moment of intense scribulation while attempting to jot down his mother's phone messages.
Etymology: scrib[ble] + [trib]ulation
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COMMENTS:
Mario's gonna get it when his Momma gets home! - libertybelle, 2007-11-06: 08:47:00
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Inkconspicuous
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: in/kon/spic/yu/us
Sentence: Maybe if he pressed hard enough on the paper he would be able to see an outline of his words but the pen was virtually inkonspicuous.
Etymology: ink + inconspicuous
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COMMENTS:
Like it! - TJayzz, 2008-10-03: 14:28:00
good one! - Nosila, 2008-10-03: 20:15:00
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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
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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
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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:
Today's definition was suggested by vixphilia. Thank you vixphilia! ~ James'
OZZIEBOB - 2007-11-06: 16:53:00
Good word!
Today's definition was suggested by vixphilia. Thank you vixphilia. ~ James
Petrikreink - 2020-03-03: 05:14:00