Vote for the best verboticism.

'I wish this tree was dead.'

DEFINITION: v. To ignore anything positive and focus your energy on problems, disasters, and whatever bad news you find. n. A person who searches for, and feeds on, other people's weaknesses, failures and mistakes.

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Verboticisms

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Negaferret

fabdiva

Created by: fabdiva

Pronunciation: neg-ah-fair-et

Sentence: It did not go unnoticed that Cindy spent an inordinate amount of time at the emergency desk. Only a negaferret would volunteer on their rostered day off.

Etymology: negative - not optimistic. Harmful. ferret - to look around in search of something

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Ghoultures

Created by: silveryaspen

Pronunciation: ghoul churs

Sentence: Named after the devil in him, Sin Nick earned his living, by feeding on, and exploiting other people's weaknesses, failures, and mistakes ... by writing about them in the media, so all the world could see and hear about them, as well ... and feed upon such misfortune, too. People like Sin Nicks, Gloomy Guses, Worry Warts, Pessy Mists, Wet Blankets, Sca Vengers, and old Buzz Ards, and all their fallowers are ghoultures.

Etymology: GHOULISH, VULTURES. GHOULISH - morbidly fascinated and obsessively interested in weakness, failure, disaster, death and anything repulsive. VULTURES - birds or people who prey upon, and feed upon, the weak, the failing, the misfortunate. Culture - groups of people with shared attitudes and beliefs, such as the ghoultures, the cynics (sin nicks) who feed upon the misfortunate. Fall-lowers for followers.

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Maggoteer

Created by: readerwriter

Pronunciation: meh-gah-teer

Sentence: If only Dart could find two more people to join him in his cause of whining, grumbling and complaining about every rotten thing then they could call themselves The Three Maggoteers.

Etymology: Using MAGGOT, a larvae that feeds on diseased or dead cells + a play on "The Three Muskateers," a French novel about a young hero named d'Artangan by Alexandre Dumas, pere

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COMMENTS:

I would hate to run into three Maggoteers types at one time! I really enjoy everyone's words and what they come up with in sentences! Very creative :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-04-22: 06:41:00

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Sinnic

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: sin nik

Sentence: Woody was a sinnic in the worst sense of the word. If your actions did not benefit him directly, he thought you had no business being on the planet!

Etymology: Sin (commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake) & Cynic (someone who is critical of the motives of others)

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Euphoraptor

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: eu-for-rap-tor

Sentence: Janet walked out into the beautiful spring air, taking in the delicate scent of cherry blossoms and feeling the warm sunshine. She stood there smiling, forgetting her winter depression and feeling hopeful for the first time in months. Suddenly Andrew, the euphoraptor, began to shout, "Where's my damn allergy pills?" "Where's my socks?" "Where's my damn chain saw?" "I've decided to cut that cherry tree down so I can put my bacci court there." Janet looked at the picked carcass of her happy mood and sighed, "Your pills are in the cabinet, your socks are in the drawer, and I sold your chain saw last week at the yard sale for 15 bucks."

Etymology: Euphoria: state of well-being and happiness + Raptor: one who seizes by force, rape; a bird of prey

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COMMENTS:

Your verbotomy euphoraptor, and your sentence, especially the words 'leaves behind the picked carcass of her happy mood' is SUPERB descriptive and metaphorical writing! - silveryaspen, 2009-04-21: 09:38:00

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Negactivity

Created by: EpicButCrazy

Pronunciation: Neg-ack-tiv-it-ee

Sentence: He's so full of negactivity, even when he won the huge competition all he could think about was that they misspelled his name on the trophy!

Etymology: negativity + activity = to be quite actively negative

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Lugubriate

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: loo-GOO-bree-ayt

Sentence: Even on the sunniest days and rosiest occasions Bertha could be counted upon to lugubriate, searching through all the days events and news for the downbeat and negative offerings.

Etymology: 'Lugubrious' (mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner) with suffix '-ate' (As the ending of a verb, it means to make, to cause, to act, etc.; as, to propitiate (to make propitious); to animate (to give life to)

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COMMENTS:

Saying lugubriate has harsh sounds just like these hard people! Easy to remember, spot on the definition ... another Exceptional Great Create! - silveryaspen, 2009-04-21: 09:47:00

like the GOO-d word play in your pronunciation, too! - silveryaspen, 2009-04-22: 22:16:00

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Schadendfraudster

Created by: galwaywegian

Pronunciation: schad en frawd stur

Sentence: She was a total schadenfraudster. the onlt time she use the word "good", was to precede "grief"

Etymology: schadenfreude, fraudster

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Focuss

Created by: galwaywegian

Pronunciation: ffff oh kuss

Sentence: her focuss had everyone cussing before long

Etymology: focus cuss

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Snipercritical

karenanne

Created by: karenanne

Pronunciation: SNY per CRIT ih cul

Sentence: My aunt Prissy is usually looking for mistakes or flaws, real or imagined, so she can complain about how she could have done something so much better, if someone had only asked her. And she somehow manages to blame every problem of her own on someone else. Even though she's been married five times, every one of the divorces was the man's fault. According to her, her adult children don't talk to her because "they are ungrateful and don't appreciate all the sacrifices I've made for them." More likely, her husbands left and most of the people in the family avoid her because she is so snipercitical, always waiting to take potshots from the sidelines.

Etymology: sniper + hypercritical

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COMMENTS:

ah, the relationship assassin... - Nosila, 2010-11-04: 01:35:00

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-04-21: 00:01:01
Today's definition was inspired by one of my favorite university professors who would respond to complainers with what he said was an old Japanese proverb -- "In among the cherry blossoms, the woodpecker hunts for a dead tree." ~ James

silveryaspen - 2009-04-21: 01:43:00
Like today's definition and cartoon, that Japanese proverb, provides plenty of food for thought .... naughty knotty thoughts ... until I want to thought naught about it any more!

silveryaspen - 2009-04-21: 09:56:00
This thought provoking definition and cartoon certainly inspired every one today! Kudos to the professor and James and all the verbotomists who played today. All are terrific sentences and verbotomies, today.

readerwriter - 2009-04-21: 10:33:00
Do I live in the wrong hemisphere or does my day begin too late???? Either that, or you all are up past midnight EST! Fun word today to play with. How you do it, James, I will never know...you are an artiste!

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-04-21: 13:27:00
Thank you silvery and readerwriter. Fortunately, there not a lot of woodpeckers among us, but apparently there are a lot of night owls. ~ James

abrakadeborah - 2009-04-22: 06:03:00
This word and cartoon today was very descriptive! I LOVE the old Japanese proverb you added "In among the cherry blossoms, the woodpecker hunts for a dead tree." :) I have known a FEW toxic people like this in my life~