Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: n. A person who, using an example from their own life, steers people away from a line of speculation by reducing it to an absurdity. v. To dismantle a logical argument with piles of passionate incoherence.
Verboticisms
Click on each verboticism to read the sentences created by the Verbotomy writers, and to see your voting options...
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Idiotom
Created by: mplsbohemian
Pronunciation: ID-ee-uht-uhm
Sentence: Alex unwittingly became an idiotom as he trailed off on a tangent of how he was submerged in spaghetti at camp back in the day.
Etymology: idio- (individual) + idiot (a boor) + idiom (peculiar speech)
Abswervist
Created by: petaj
Pronunciation: ab-swerve-ist
Sentence: The repertory group had come to be known as the Theatre of the Abswerve. Since Eugene, a playwright, kept banging on about his past productions, they could not settle on a script.
Etymology: absurd, swerve
Backinthedayser
Created by: jedijawa
Pronunciation: back-in-the-days-er
Sentence: Bill was such a backinthedayser with his irrelevant stories about his youth growing up in the "school of hard knocks."
Etymology: some moron talking about "back in the days" when things were better than they can ever be again
Tangentvangelist
Created by: porsche
Pronunciation: tan/jent/van/jel/ist
Sentence: My sixth grade teacher was a tangentvangelist who answered every question with a reference to the black plague
Etymology: tangent + evangelist
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COMMENTS:
Probably the best use of "evangelist" outside occult circles (or should that be pentagrams?). - Bulletchewer, 2007-04-18: 12:14:00
Good word. Also made me think of that SNL sketch, "In a vannn down by the rivvver". That guy was a tangentvangelist if anyone ever was. - playdohheart, 2007-04-18: 15:09:00
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Illustrationgist
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: ill/us/tray/shun/jist
Sentence: Her dad was the ultimate illustrationgist - he reduced every conversation to taking a walk down memory lane
Etymology: illustration (example) + gist (meaning)
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COMMENTS:
Ooh, this is an interesting spin on the definition. - playdohheart, 2007-04-18: 07:37:00
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Rationalbatross
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: ra shun al bit ross
Sentence: When Penelope asked her father, Gordie, for a computer (or anything that cost money), he had his usual rationalbatross excuse ready. On this occasion it was about the fact that when he was young, computers were a science fiction story, not reality. So he had to develop his super brainpower to get through all eight of his years of school. Of course, he then went into his old "I walked through five feet of snow for eight miles without boots or a winter coat, carrying a raw potato for my lunch at school, after I had milked the cows, fed the pigs and chickens and brought in a bucket of snow to melt for water" schtick.
Etymology: Rational (logical) & Albatross (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps)
Wrang-wrang
Created by: vonnegut
Pronunciation: rang-rang
Sentence: There was a sign around my dead cat's neck. It said, "Meow." I have not seen Krebbs since. Nonetheless, I sense that he was my karass. If he was, he served it as a wrang-wrang.
Etymology: Created by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., for Cat's Cradle, published in 1963.
Disfable
Created by: patb
Pronunciation: dis-fay-bull
Sentence: Roger used disfables about his childhood to discourage his children. It worked
Etymology: dis + fable + disable
Babblogic
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: babel - ojik
Sentence: Cecil's usual babblogic behavior befuddled even the most intelligent person. He was a babblegic in the truest sense in that he could expound a subject for hours and you came away not understanding the point of anything he had said.
Etymology: babble (say or speak incoherently), logic
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by Kurt Vonnegut and first appeared in his novel Cat's Cradle.
Thank you Mr. Vonnegut! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by Kurt Vonnegut and first appeared in his novel Cat's Cradle.
Thank you Mr. Vonnegut! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by vonnegut. Thank you vonnegut. ~ James