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'Look at that big smile!'

DEFINITION: v. To have difficulty recognizing, and correctly interpreting, human facial expressions. n. A person who cannot read faces.

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Verboticisms

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Misexpressionize

Created by: rubysoho

Pronunciation: miss-ex-PRESH-shun-ize

Sentence: Often people who are not successful at dating learn that it is because they tend to misexpressionize.

Etymology:

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Malfacioread

Created by: duchessella

Pronunciation: mal-FA-ci-o-reed

Sentence: He keeps malfacioireading people and hence giving wrong responses; that is embarrassing.

Etymology: Mal = wrong, bad, mistake Facio = facial Read = read, interpret, understand (as in palm-reading)

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Visagegoth

Created by: porsche

Pronunciation: viz/aj/gahth

Sentence: Jack was a noted visagegoth who had the manners to match his multiple faux pas

Etymology: visigoth + visage

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Visagenius

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: vis a jeen ee us

Sentence: Jerome thought he was such a visagenious when it came to reading the faces of young ladies he fancied. He could not have been more wrong. He always misinterpreted a "yikes" look as enthusiasm. Which explains why he never has a date...

Etymology: Visage (face;countenance) & Genius (unusual mental ability;a natural talent)

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Ungesticate

mishmish

Created by: mishmish

Pronunciation:

Sentence: - I was winking at him all night, but he didn't get it . - Well, maybe he's just ungesticate.

Etymology: from "gesto", Italian/Spanish/Portuguese etc. for gesture

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Missedemeanour

CharlieB

Created by: CharlieB

Pronunciation: miss-duh-mean-er

Sentence: As Bill threw his paper aeroplane across the classroom, Mr Smith frowned. Bill mistook his stern expression for one of delight, promptly grinned and set about making an entire air force from his maths text book. He wasn't being naughty, it was just an unfortunate missedemeanour.

Etymology: Missed (failed to notice or understand) + demeanour (facial appearance) + Misdemeanour (misbehaviour)

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Kissermisser

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: kiss/er/miss/er

Sentence: Joe confused a smirk for a scowl, fear for friendliness, a grin for a grimace. He was a socially inept kissermisser.

Etymology: KISSERMISSER - noun - from KISSER (an informal term for the human face) + MISS (to fail to perceive, or understand)

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Disvis

Created by: Rhyme79

Pronunciation: dizz-vizz

Sentence: "When she makes that face, I have such bad disvis. Is she crying or laughing?" "You're such a disvis, I'm laughing."

Etymology: 'dis'- not or taken/removed 'vis'- visual and visage (face and see)

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Mienblind

Created by: OZZIEBOB

Pronunciation: MEEN-blahynd

Sentence: Roxie was certain that she had found the fountain of youth (or, perhaps, just Dani Minogue's Beauty Guide) when she came across an advert featuring the "Prosopial Pill," a startling, C21th make-over breakthrough, whereby one could look just look like he or she wanted to: having any skin, eye, or hair colour, and facial expressions, by simply taking this pill. Bob, upon hearing all this, became deeply concerned with the prospect of Roxie frequently changing her appearance, wondering whether he would be able, in future, to read her prosopialities. Seeking help, he immediately began flicking through "The Dictionary of Verbotomy" and for a while little interested him, and was about to put the book down when one word arrested his eyes: the word Mienblind.

Etymology: MIEN: facial expression, demeanour, bearing, appearance,aspect; air; manner; carriage; bearing or manner, especially as it reveals an inner state of mind & BLIND: unwilling or unable to perceive or understand; not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or judge. PROSOPIAL: From Gk, Prosop meaning face & PILL.

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Afacia

Created by: mjmlabs

Pronunciation: uh-FAY-shuh

Sentence: Dan's got to be very careful when he goes out drinking; last weekend, his afacia almost got the two of us killed or arrested, I'm not sure which.

Etymology: Aphasia ("partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease") + a cheap pun on "face"

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COMMENTS:

Well done! - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 14:50:00

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-09: 02:26:00
Today's definition was inspired by Cory Doctorow's short story "I, Row-Boat", where a sentient, and very sensitive Row-Boat has some difficulty reading a woman's facial expressions. See the full story in Overclocked. Thank you Cory! ~ James

metrohumanx metrohumanx - 2008-07-09: 02:49:00
MIENBLIND is very good- and far more cerebral than my entry. Good work, Ozziebob.

MaybeLater_x - 2008-08-19: 19:10:00
Visagenary is also a play on Imaginary, nay?

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-11-25: 00:48:00
Today's definition was suggested by doctorow. Thank you doctorow. ~ James

ldikarev - 2012-09-06: 16:44:00

ldikarev - 2012-09-06: 16:45:00
Prosopagnosia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia (Greek: "prosopon" = "face", "agnosia" = "not knowing") is a disorder of fa