Vote for the best verboticism.
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.
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
Dumotivation
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)
Pepsquawk
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)
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
Scofficer
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
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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
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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
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
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)
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
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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
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Comments:
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...)
Today's definition was suggested by ohwtepph. Thank you ohwtepph. ~ James