Vote for the best verboticism.

'When I said that you're a loser, I meant it as a compliment.'

DEFINITION: v. To exercise power through the strategic use of personal insults, while pretending to offer encouragement. n. A leader who motivates people by insulting them.

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Verboticisms

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Humiliaid

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: hyoo/mil/ee/eyd

Sentence: Rachel would humiliaid every salesman in the department. She ripped every salesman apart personally then pushed them to exceed last month's sales targets.

Etymology: humiliate + aid

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Dumotivation

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: duhm-oh-tuh-vey-shuhn

Sentence: Lucy thought she could use dumotivation to get her staff going. If she acted like they were stupid, they would strive to prove her wrong. A good number of her employees showed just how smart they were by finding new jobs where they were treated with respect.

Etymology: dumb (lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted) + motivation (inspiration, inducement)

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Hellnotivate

Created by: Katisms1

Pronunciation: hell-NO!-tive-ate

Sentence: Maintaining his hard-won reputation as a total S.O.B., the department manager would sneeringly "hellnotivate" his sales team into action with an endless stream of backhanded compliments.

Etymology: "(Oh) hell, no!" [Indignant reaction to the realization that the compliment one thought one just received was actually an insult.] + motivate

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Leadersnip

Created by: mweinmann

Pronunciation: lee - dur - snip

Sentence: Patricia knew how to practice leadersnip. This skill was honed over a period of time as a manager in the Marketing Department at Pepper Hill Cosmetics. All good ideas were her own and if someone else started to believe in their writing skills a bit too avidly, Patrice knew how to snip their copy - - and them down to size; thus yielding a better slogan authored by "herself"

Etymology: leader - a person who demonstrates the ability to motivate and manage people. snip - cut, reduce or chide

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Ensluragement

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: en-slur-age-ment

Sentence: Margot was always ready to give ensluragement whenever someone got above their raisin by thinking they could do her job as well as she did. That way she could eliminate the competition and still sound like she was trying to help her underlings.

Etymology: encouragement: to inspire hope, courage or confidence + slur: to talk about disparagingly or insultingly; to cast a disparaging remark

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COMMENTS:

artr It takes slurrage to stand up to your subordinates. - artr, 2010-01-06: 09:20:00

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Vinspire

Created by: headlibrarian

Pronunciation: \vin-ˈspī(-ə)r\

Sentence: Coach Jensen, the high school tennis coach, would vinspire me with cheers of "With big-ass feet like yours, Haggerty, you're gonna foot-fault your way to a forfeit. You'll score more points by just standing still."

Etymology: Vindictive (intended to cause anguish or hurt) + Inspire (to spur on; motivate)

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Middleearth

Created by: nynaeve

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Insultivate

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: in sul tiv ayt

Sentence: When Joan Collins played Alexis Carrington on "Dynasty", she regularly would insultivate the other actors. They were sure that the vixenish Joan was using reverse psychology on them to improve their performances and make their reactions to her onscreen more lifelike. They never did realize that Joan relished abusing them, thanks mainly to another Collins always in her dressing room...frequent stiffeners of Tom Collins.

Etymology: Insult (to treat, mention, or speak to rudely) & Motivate (to give an incentive for action)

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Galvannihilate

CharlieB

Created by: CharlieB

Pronunciation: gal-van-eye-a-late

Sentence: The staff were conflicted by their boss. "You fat &*!£s need to show me what ya got!" she would yell. After a team hug and a pep talk they'd rush back to their desks feeling excited. But there was also a lingering sense of humiliation. They'd been well and truly galvannihilated.

Etymology: galvanise (to stimulate or excite) + annihilate (to destroy)

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Deniagrate

Created by: administraitor

Pronunciation: deny-a-grate

Sentence: Her manager's constant efforts to deniagrate her performance finally led Carol to implement her exit strategy.

Etymology: denial + denigrate

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COMMENTS:

your name, administraitor, would have worked well with this definition - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-12: 16:29:00

What a difference a vowel makes! - administraitor, 2007-06-12: 16:32:00

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-06-12: 01:52:00
The second step in Timothy Johnson's GUST process is Understanding. And apparently, based on the number of definitions we received on this topic, everybody understands what it is like to have a bad boss. Today's definition was suggested by ohwtepph , suzanne, and remistram. Thank you ohwtepph, suzanne, remistram, and Timothy! ~ James

lumina - 2008-08-07: 13:49:00
Wow! So fun and an honor to have come up with the "winning" word. "I'd like to thank the Academy, my parents and of course Jesus." ha Thanks to the voters! (she says as the music starts playing and the tap dancing man with the hook from the gong show comes into view...)

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-01-06: 00:05:00
Today's definition was suggested by ohwtepph. Thank you ohwtepph. ~ James