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'Now be a good boy, and pick up your socks'

DEFINITION: v. To use animal training techniques to improve and direct the behavior of other people. n. A technique which uses the principles of animal training to solve a human behavioral riddle.

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Verboticisms

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Psycholdoggy

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: sigh-COL-dog-e

Sentence: Sue-Ellen soon wised up she could manage her children's own behaviour modification for the cost of an obedience training course for her pet. There was no reason to pay out megabucks on a professional, when she was an expert psycholdogist.

Etymology: psychology + dog

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COMMENTS:

nice and original - Jabberwocky, 2008-05-19: 14:19:00

I think that's happened to me. Good one! - Mustang, 2008-05-19: 23:52:00

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Homesticate

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: hoh/mes/ti/kate

Sentence: In most relationships, the woman has to homesticate the male so he can function in modern society.

Etymology: homo sapiens (the modern species of humans) + domesticate (to tame an animal to live with humans); therefore, homesticate (to tame a human to live with humans)

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COMMENTS:

...but we can still 'devolve' during football games, can't we? Excellent word! - Tigger, 2008-05-19: 02:51:00

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Spousebreak

Created by: skeeterzirra

Pronunciation: rhymes with housebreak

Sentence: If all men are dogs, where's a man-whisperer to teach women how to spousebreak them?

Etymology: Housebreak

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Crittersuade

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: CRIT-ehr-swayde

Sentence: Using techniques she'd learned as an animal trainer Roseanne often resorted to those methods with people and would try to crittersuade them to do things according to her wishes.

Etymology: Blend of critter and persuade

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Reinforcemen

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: re-in-force-men

Sentence: Paula used both positive and negative reinforcemen to get whatever she wanted. Her technique included the rewards of steaks, sports, beer, and the occasional night out with the boys; however, she discovered that sex could be used both positively as a reward and negatively by withdrawing the reward when appropriate.

Etymology: reinforcement: technic whereby the delivery of a stimulus, good or bad, after a response increases the likelihood of the behavior repeating. + men: creatures that have been test subjects for women since the dawn of civilization

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Pavlovegantheory

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: pav/low/veegan/theory

Sentence: The pavlovegantheory explores conditioning the reflexes of patrons to eat only vegetables when the subjects hear a bell ringing. An example would be the huge success of Potaco Bell.

Etymology: Pavolovian theory (dog's salivating when they hear a bell ringing) + vegan

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Folklured

Created by: Tigger

Pronunciation: /fohk-loord/

Sentence: Sherry wasn't what you'd call 'book-smart' but she was very good at figuring out what people's motivations were, and which tactics would make them act the way she wanted. She had folklured her boyfriend into a marriage proposal, her parents into buying her another new car, and even her teachers into giving her good grades — now she was about to graduate college, thanks to another student, who was also her enamoured and very lonely tutor. She was definitely going to either work in sales, or in politics.

Etymology: from the word 'Folklore': Folk - people in general, or people of a distinct group (from German, volk "people") + Lured - tempted or enticed into a particular action; used a decoy for fishing or trapping (from Middle Low German, loder "bait")

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COMMENTS:

She must have folklured her parents into buying her a new folkswagen! - Nosila, 2008-05-19: 16:56:00

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Obediencesocool

Created by: splendiction

Pronunciation: rhymes with "obedience school"

Sentence: They had tried everything, it seemed, to eliminate their son’s thumbsucking: behaviour modification, ignoring, even praise. Nothing worked until obediencesocool! The idea of simply complying with their requests actually became the new cool thing to do! They hoped this new trend would last and spawn similar trends.

Etymology: A play on a dog "obedience school".

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COMMENTS:

Cool word...what you have to do with teens these days... - Nosila, 2009-06-30: 01:22:00

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Toughpavlove

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: tuff pav luv

Sentence: Anna used her psychological training to cure her boyfriend's bad habits. She called it toughpavlove because through conditioned response and a reward/punishment system, she got results and a cleaner house. Her Yorkie, Poopsie, was however, quite immune to the same training and pooped everywhere.

Etymology: Tough Love (The use of strict disciplinary measures and limitations on freedoms or privileges, as by a parent or guardian, as a means of fostering responsibility and expressing care or concern.) & Pavlov (Russian physiologist who observed conditioned salivary responses in dogs)

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Barkcorrecting

Created by: Annelanda

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2008-05-19: 00:01:00
Today's definition is inspired by Amy Sutherland's new book "What Shamu Taught me About Life, Love and Marriage". where she reminds us that "People are animals too!", and that "Any interaction is training". Now Amy has invented her own word for this and it's "Shamu", so I have added it today's list of verboticisms! Thanks Amy! ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-06-29: 00:01:00
Today's definition is inspired by Amy Sutherland's book "What Shamu Taught me About Life, Love and Marriage", where she reminds us that "People are animals too!", and that "Any interaction is training". Of course, Amy has invented her own word for this -- "Shamu". Let's see what we come up with now... Thanks Amy! ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-07-19: 00:41:00
Today's definition was suggested by amysutherland. Thank you amysutherland. ~ James