Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To adopt other people's words, phrases and linguistic stylings, and then try to make them your own by subtlety altering the syntax. n. A borrowed and butchered phrase
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.
Snatchphrase
Created by: Tigger
Pronunciation: /snach-freyz/
Sentence: The press was up in arms over the latest speech from Sillory Flintskin, for using a catchphrase of her rival, Flack Odrama, and turning it into a snatchphrase by stealing it and slightly rearranging the words. She had changed it from "Change we can believe in" to "We can believe in change."
Etymology: Play on the word 'Catchphrase'; Snatch - to seize by a sudden or hasty grasp (from Middle Dutch, snacken "to snatch, chatter") + Phrase - a brief utterance or remark (from Greek, phrazein "to express, tell")
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
is Flack Mel's brother? - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 14:02:00
Cheers, Tigger...this is just the primaries, can we face the rest of it?? - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:14:00
Clever!! - TJayzz, 2008-04-28: 04:31:00
----------------------------
Kleptoclintonism
Created by: green
Pronunciation:
Sentence: 'Yes she can' is just one example of ballsy kleptoclintonism. Hillary thinks voters are so dumb we don't recognize her light-fingered mouth.
Etymology: kleptomaniac plus clinton
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
You could have said five-fingered mouth. (5-fingered discount for those scratching their heads) - arrrteest, 2008-04-25: 19:07:00
Stealing wasn't Bills problem - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-26: 19:05:00
----------------------------
Spielsteal
Created by: donlyn
Pronunciation:
Sentence: Ken and Boris were both spielsteal culprits so which ones speech was worth listening to.
Etymology:
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
Good word. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-26: 18:55:00
----------------------------
Malopt
Created by: ErWenn
Pronunciation: /ˌmælˈɒpt/
Sentence: The English and Japanese languages have a long history of malopting each other's words.
Etymology: from mal- + opt (as in badly co-opt)
Echotheft
Created by: rebelvin
Pronunciation: echo+theft
Sentence: Time and again, all he did was echothieve, appropriating ideas from others at the meeting, offering no ideas of his own.
Etymology: echo+theft
Speechleech
Created by: verbherder
Pronunciation: speech-leech
Sentence: Don't worry if you can't think of an original answer. There's no need to recreate the tire. Just turn someone else's thought into a speechleech.
Etymology: speech (oral communication) + leech (a person who clings to another for personal gain, esp. without giving anything in return)
Spearaphrase
Created by: bookowl
Pronunciation: speer/ah/fraze
Sentence: To spearaphrase is a sure fire way to mangle it.
Etymology: spear + paraphrase
Malapropriate
Created by: Alchemist
Pronunciation: mal-uh-PRO-pree-ate
Sentence: Sensing an opening, McClain fixed his opponent with a glittering gaze. Overeager, he leaned over the podium and malapropriated the oft-misquoted Benson zinger, spouting, "You, sir, are no Dead Kennedy!"
Etymology: malaprop, appropriate
Aproproliniator
Created by: frozenpeas42
Pronunciation: a-prop-ro-lin-iator
Sentence: I can't stand that bloody aproproliniator; he sounds like a broken record!
Etymology: to appropriate Lien
Robscuranto
Created by: OZZIEBOB
Pronunciation: ruhb-skyoor-RAHN-to
Sentence: The robscuranto and gabyrinth of the late Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland premier from 1968 to 1987, famous for his unique mangling of the English language, was very effective in fobbing off journalists with irrelevant non-answers in a performance he called "feeding the chooks." Of two political opponents, he said: " You can push a 44-gallon drum of molasses up a hill easier than you can push those two fellas." Other bjelkisms, include: "If you fly with crows, look like the crows, you'll be shot with the crows" or something to that robscurantic effect.
Etymology: Blend of ROB: Steal, take, borrow; OBSCURE: to render or make difficult unclear, difficult to understand, unintelligible; (R)ANTO of Esperanto; and OBSCURANTO:the jargon and acronymese of large bodies, such as the UN. Indeed, many critics of Esperanto claimed that Zamenhof took perfectly good words from Latin, French, German and English and render them obscure and unrecognizable. Furthermore, it is often said, that he filled his language with unnecessary grammatical forms and confusing syntax.
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
That's funnier than a one-legged well digger. - stache, 2008-04-25: 08:09:00
terrific word - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 09:24:00
G'Day, "You can't keep a good man down" from Muriel's Wedding! or "A life lived infear is a life half lived" from "Strictly Ballroom". Cheers, Mate! - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:20:00
On the topic of condoms Joh said "We don't want any of that sort of thing up here." in Queensland.
- petaj, 2008-04-26: 03:16:00
----------------------------
Comments:
OZZIEBOB - 2008-04-25: 18:41:00
Very formal political term. Love " The Butcher of Cavil."