Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: n. A punishment which does not fit crime. v. To assign a punishment which is bizarrely inappropriate, and seems totally unrelated to the crime which has been committed.
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.
Felonelevate
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: fel-ehn-ELL-eh-vayt
Sentence: The jury was certain the judge had come completely unhinged when he decided to felonelevate the punishment of Elmer and sentenced him to a year in jail for littering.
Etymology: Blend of felon and elevate.
Punytivedamages
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: pewnee/tiv/dam/aj/es
Sentence: Punytivedamages amounting to a cutback of .025% of the Bank President's bonus for the year seemed unfair to the dispossessed living under the bridge who had been sold useless investments by his bank.
Etymology: puny (feeble, undersized) + punitve damages
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COMMENTS:
It makes you lose interest in banks! - Nosila, 2009-03-06: 18:44:00
Master of the one letter change to form a perfect verbotomy! Brilliant! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-06: 19:11:00
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Justdesserts
Created by: kateinkorea
Pronunciation: JUST de ZURTZ
Sentence: Charles explained his deranged, pie in the sky plan to rob a bank to his brother Simon. Always jealous of Charles, Simon hoped the plan would fail and Charles would get his just deserts. If Charles was in jail for his bungled attempt to pull off this heist, Simon could take his place in the family bakery business and win some attention from his mother, who clearly favoured Charles of the two. Simon called the police and revealed Charles’s plan. Charles would be using the family bakery truck so that anyone seeing the van there would think he was just delivering pies, and he would be on his way out of town at 2 pm in the van, with the money. Simon hoped to assist in bungling the plan but forgot his basic mathematics, that two negatives make a positive. When Charles stopped off at the family bakery to say goodbye to his mother, after robbing the bank, he accidentally left in the wrong van. He took Simon’s van. Simon got HIS just deserts as he ended up in jail. In Charles’s vans were…just desserts. Charles felt he got justdesserts-plenty of sweet deals-after Simon went to jail: a raise and a promotion; Simon’s girlfriend; and the icing on the cake...a constant reminder from Mom that he was the “good son”.
Etymology: DESSERTS: sweet food served at the end of a meal JUST DESERTS: (the combination of the rarely used definition of the word DESERT: that which one deserves and JUST: for justice) to mean that which is considered to be deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward; poetic justice
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COMMENTS:
Intriguing word ... more please! Waited all day for the pronunciation, sentence, and etymology! But I understand you might have been called away and are superbusy. Will check back again tomorrow! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-06: 19:40:00
Thanks for your devotion. This one is as silly as ever. :) (Yes I was very busy. These always come out at a bad time of day for me.) - kateinkorea, 2009-03-07: 01:14:00
love your story & word, kate! You'd think 2 guys in a bakery would make enough dough without robbing banks! - Nosila, 2009-03-08: 22:32:00
It was worth waiting for! Admire the great and humorous twists on 'justdesserts' - silveryaspen, 2009-03-09: 01:24:00
Very good! - Mustang, 2009-03-10: 02:55:00
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Punishmint
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: pənishmint
Sentence: Edward, the financier had bilked millions from people who had invested in his too-good-to-be-true scheme. The plaintiffs wanted blood. The judge gave him punishmint. Knowing that the defendant loathed the taste of mint — peppermint, spearmint, coolmint, any mint — that was all the candy he was to be allowed for the next 2 years. None of his beloved toffees. Not a single truffle. How he was going to get through it Edward wasn't quite sure. His only consolation was the punishmint he was set to make on his book deal.
Etymology: punishment (the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense) + mint (a peppermint candy)(a vast sum of money)
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COMMENTS:
OMG no mint? How cruel! - wayoffcenter, 2009-03-06: 05:57:00
Amazing that you took such a harsh word and turned into the sweet treat our justice system is handing out! Very Clever! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-06: 19:21:00
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Ninjustice
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: nin-juhs-tis
Sentence: Despite the very public nature of his crimes the executive was given a punishment that seemed almost nonexistent. The stealth nature of the judgment caused many to declare it ninjustice. Some, thinking he must have been intoxicated, accused the judge of ginjustice.
Etymology: ninja (a member of a feudal Japanese society of mercenary agents, highly trained in martial arts and stealth) + injustice (violation of the rights of others; unjust or unfair action or treatment)
Fauxtence
Created by: abrakadeborah
Pronunciation: foe-tense
Sentence: Mr. Ponzi Fakkier, your fauxtence requires that you have a staff of thirty people to make sure you abide by the rules of the court, to maintain a lifestyle of luxury...via our tax payers.
Etymology: Faux - Not genuine or real; being an imitation of the genuine article. Tense; taken in part from the word Sentence - Court judgment, especially a judicial decision of the punishment to be inflicted on one adjudged guilty.
Sissyfine
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation: siss eeeeeeeee feye nnnnh
Sentence: He walked into judge Draco's courtroom with the sinking feeling that a sissyfine decision was on its way.
Etymology: fine, Sisyphean challenge" "wikipedia" As a punishment from the gods for his trickery, Sisyphus was compelled to roll a huge rock up a steep hill, but before he could reach the top of the hill, the rock would always roll back down again, forcing him to begin again.[2] The maddening nature of the punishment was reserved for Sisyphus due to his hubristic belief that his cleverness surpassed that of Zeus.
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COMMENTS:
oooh!! very cerebral today - Jabberwocky, 2009-03-06: 09:38:00
Wow! Sissyfine was just fine as a simple combine of sissy and fine and a great create. Then I read the etymology, enjoyed the Greek myth new to me. Not quite an eponym for you spelled it differently from the Greek, but that just made it better. Double meanings are not easily created. Absolutely Brilliant! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-06: 19:30:00
Very clever! - kateinkorea, 2009-03-08: 10:20:00
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Maladaequojudicate
Created by: conflan
Pronunciation: n. mal'-ə-də-kwo-joo'-də-kət; v. mal'-ə-də-kwo-joo'-də-kate
Sentence: n. The O.J. Simpson trial was farcical, resulting as it did in an obvious maladaequojudicate. v. The teacher maladaequojudicated the student for eating in class with three years in an oubliette.
Etymology: mal: from French mal; from Latin male, meaning "badly." adaequo: from Latin adaequo, meaning "equalize" or "equal to the" judicate: from Medieval Latin judicatura, meaning "to judge" (judic-)+(-ate), a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin.
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COMMENTS:
In the twitter bar, the word is mistyped: it's maladaequojudicate, not maladequojuzicate! Sorry. :-( - conflan, 2015-09-17: 19:11:00
Oops! It's also misspelled in the entry! - conflan, 2015-09-17: 19:14:00
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Penrong
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: pen rong
Sentence: When the judge gave the sentence of 30 days in a luxury penthouse jail to the CEO of the biggest con job of the century, the defence lawyer filed an appeal called a penrong. Afterall, it was a victimless crime, no blood was spilled and such a sentence was cruel and unusual punishment for a mere bookkeeping error. Forcibly placing his client in such a primitive environment constituted a penal implant, which undermined his client's basic human rights and dignity.
Etymology: Pen (short for penitentiary or jail) & Enron (Billion dollar fraud scandal)& Wrong (incorrect)
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James