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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You have two votes. Click on the words to read the details, then vote your favorite.

Bleakbeaker

Created by: abrakadeborah

Pronunciation: bleak-beak-er

Sentence: Cardinella was such a sad old fella he would bleak around to bring everybody down. To him there was never a sunny or happy day...he managed to find always a spot of gray...as he would "bleakbeaker" to make everyone weaker! Draining out any happiness... trying to make others feel like a mell of a hess.

Etymology: Bleak:Providing no encouragement; depressing,gloomy and somber. Beak:Slang a person's nose or the projecting structure forming the mandibles of a bird, especially one that is strong, sharp, and useful in striking and tearing. Bleaker:Slang for a negative person that noses into peoples lives with a striking negativity to tear down their happy moods.

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COMMENTS:

luv your spoonerism! - silveryaspen, 2009-04-22: 22:26:00

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Depressimist

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: de pres sim ist

Sentence: Woody was a pileated woodpecker and a depressimist. Nothing could please him. He even hated his species' name...it made him sound like he always had piles. He wood birch about his troubles all day, but the other birds soon learned to twitter him for his negative talk. One brave, elder Robin finally had enough and told him, "Woody, spruce yourself up and quit pining, yew son of a beech. We know that your bark is worse than your bite. All this depressimism will alder you permanently fir sure, unless you learn to spruce up your outlook. Be happy yew are free and can fly. If yew don't like it here, yew can pack your trunk and fly away. Yew wood be less bore-ing and a lot more poplar, if yew quit making such an ash of yourself...oakay?!"

Etymology: Depress (lower someone's spirits; make downhearted;lessen the activity or force of) & Pessimist (a person who expects the worst)

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COMMENTS:

karenanne Perfect word - it should have an entry in Webster's! - karenanne, 2010-11-03: 22:34:00

karenanne I voted for yours, but it turned out I hadn't been logged in. Well, you have the points, at least! - karenanne, 2010-11-04: 18:00:00

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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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Lugubriate

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: loo-GOO-bree-ayt

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

Etymology: Blend of '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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Flawyer

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: flôyər

Sentence: Tony entered the field of law with high hopes of making the world a better place. What he soon discovered was that he was really in a world of flaw enforcement. When somebody messes up he makes money. Once he got all of that Don Quixote nonsense out of system he became a real flawyer.

Etymology: flaw (imperfection) + lawyer (a person who practices or studies law)

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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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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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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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Misfortunehunter

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: mis fort tyoon hun ter

Sentence: Lucky Lucy was not only a fortune hunter, she was also a misfortunehunter. Her specialty was finding old guys who wanted sweet young things. She always made sure they were rich, sickly, put her in the will and were without relatives. Once she got her hooks into them, it was only a matter of time before they keeled and she collected. Her black widow career paid well until the last old guy outlived her...

Etymology: Misfortune (unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event;an unfortunate state resulting from unfavorable outcomes) & Fortune Hunter (a person who seeks wealth through marriage)

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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~