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.

Create | Read

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.

Lapsojudgement

Created by: kymar

Pronunciation: lapse - o - judgement

Sentence: I could tell by the look on my bosses face, that what she was about to say to me would be yet another example of her lapsojudgment.

Etymology: Momentary lapse in judgement

| Comments and Points

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)

| Comments and Points

Pepsquawk

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: pepskwôk

Sentence: Week after week the manager would deliver a pepsqualk to her staff. Her crew’s response has been to adopt a hedgehog as a mascot. They told her that a hedgehog is an industrious critter that will ”dig in” and defend its home. The fact is that the picture they posted for motivation is actually a shrew.

Etymology: pep talk (a talk intended to make someone feel more courageous or enthusiastic) + squawk (make a loud, harsh noise)

| Comments and Points

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

| Comments and Points

Scofficer

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: SCOFF-i-sir

Sentence: MEMO To: All Staff From: Scofficer Martin %%%%%%%% It is with great pleasure that I can tell you all about Mary Jane's excellent performance. Due to her repulsive smell brought on by inadequate personal hygiene, she has single handedly reduced the number of complaints submitted at the customer service desk to zero. Congratulations Mary Jane.

Etymology: scoff + officer + sir

----------------------------
COMMENTS:

HA! - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-12: 07:51:00

This one's excellent, too. So many good words today. - Clayton, 2007-06-12: 08:31:00

that mary jane must have nulfactory senses! - jadenguy, 2007-06-12: 10:02:00

Great sentence! - mplsbohemian, 2007-06-12: 14:00:00

----------------------------

| Comments and Points

Derogolittle

Created by: bubbos

Pronunciation: de-rog-o-lit-tle

Sentence: Nancy derogolittled Billy's inability to please her in bed. "At least you're incompetency is not the worst I've seen."

Etymology: Derogatory + Belittle

| Comments and Points

Middleearth

Created by: nynaeve

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

| Comments and Points

Snideypraise

Created by: TJayzz

Pronunciation: Sny-dee-pray-ze

Sentence: Rebecca thought she was a great boss, she didn't even realise by the way she encouraged her staff by mixing encouragement and insults in the same sentence, her staff could actually see right through her and knew all along that she was using the snideypraise method.

Etymology: Snidey(derogatory or mocking in an indirect way) + Praise(to express warm approval of) ORIGIN preiser Old French to prize, from Latin pretium 'price' = Snideypraise

| Comments and Points

Winsult

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: win sult

Sentence: When Alxis wanted to motivate her top sales people, she used reverse psychology on them. She'd treat them so badly and abased them, that they would prove her wrong by outdoing themselves. Their success was their best revenge on her. Her winsult approach opened up a whole new career for her on the self-help book and lecture circuit.

Etymology: Win (be successful, attain a goal) & Insult (treat, mention, or speak to rudely)

| Comments and Points

Mockliment

Created by: ErWenn

Pronunciation: /ˈmɑkləˌmɛnt/

Sentence: It wasn't the fact that he mocklimented everyone that was so annoying; it was the fact that he seemed to think everyone was too stupid to notice.

Etymology: From compliment + mock

----------------------------
COMMENTS:

good one ErWenn - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-12: 12:04:00

son does that to me all the time. At least now I've got a word for it! Thanx! - administraitor, 2007-06-12: 15:08:00

----------------------------

| Comments and Points

Show All or More...

 

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