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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Offenspire

Created by: Wordotwist

Pronunciation: Ouf en spire

Sentence: The offenspirational capabilities of our supervisor keeps the entire workforce at the stitching factory on tether hooks.Only yesterday she humiliaded Nancy with the most flattering comments about her eyes ; followed immediately by the advise on how she could deliver more acceptable results if she kept them on her stitch – rather on the nearby ‘slicks’ for most of the time !

Etymology: A combination of offend - as to offend through an insulting,demeaning etc remark; and inspire - through encouragement,praise etc.

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Notivational

Created by: lumina

Pronunciation: no/ti/vay/shun/al

Sentence: June was so insecure in her position as team leader, that each year when it was her turn to "pump up" her team at the company's annual banquet, she would make sure to have the best notivational speech prepared. Armed with about 15 minutes of subliminal messages, she would also politely reject any ideas and suggestions with a smile, followed by a rolling of the eyes as she pointed to the next raised hand.

Etymology: Motivation: Stimulation of a salesperson's, dealer's, or employee's innate desires and personal objectives by a program of recognition. Notivational: The "antithesis" of the above. :)

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COMMENTS:

metrohumanx subtle yet sweet....powerpoint to the people! - metrohumanx, 2008-08-05: 07:12:00

Good word. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-08-06: 04:56:00

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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

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Preyse

Created by: Roubicek

Pronunciation:

Sentence: I receive nothing but preyse from my boss.

Etymology:

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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

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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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Unspiratarian

Created by: jadenguy

Pronunciation: un spire a terian

Sentence: On the high seas, it was often that Horatio asked himself what his greater destiny was, his raison d’etre. The captain always told him that he wasn't as dumb as he looked, that the only good decision he'd ever made was to find himself a place onboard because the real world would eat him alive, that keeping storage room clean was one thing even he couldn't screw up, that at least he had more facial hair than his wife, but not much. This unspiritarian had all but destroyed the ferocity of crew, but Horatio continued to believe that this was where he needed to be, that great things were going to happen. Few and far between have there been greater moments of forsight.

Etymology: un + inspire + totalitarian

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COMMENTS:

wow, that was a long'un. - jadenguy, 2007-06-12: 09:57:00

perhaps he should have become a unspirational unmotivational speaker - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-12: 12:01:00

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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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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)

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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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Compliminsult

Created by: couv78

Pronunciation: Com-pli-min-sult

Sentence: She just told me that the report looks good but she reckons she could have had a monkey do it and get the same result - I think she just compliminsulted me?

Etymology: From Compliment and Insult

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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