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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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)
Ergocentrist
Created by: karenanne
Pronunciation: er go SEN trist
Sentence: He is such an ergocentrist. Basically, his attitude is, "This is how I did it thirty years ago and it worked for me; therefore, this is how it should continue to work." He says he never gets vaccinations because when he was 17, he got one, and the next day, he broke his ankle. Therefore, he would never get a vaccination again because he is sure it makes people's bones turn brittle. Since then, he has never broken a bone, which just "proves" his theory. But he does get the flu almost every year. (Which he blames on computer viruses, because he never got the flu until he was 18, and hey, that was RIGHT AROUND the time that computers really hit the popular market, so therefore,....)
Etymology: ergo (therefore) + egocentric
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COMMENTS:
ergological word - Nosila, 2009-11-05: 00:24:00
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Disingenue
Created by: Koekbroer
Pronunciation: dis-in-jen-oo
Sentence: Doug really believes that by being a disingenue he can make people change their viewpoints.
Etymology: a contraction of "disingenuous" (not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does) and "ingenue" - a harmless, naive character
Focalrecoiliot
Created by: Bulletchewer
Pronunciation: fo-cull-re-coyl-ee-utt
Sentence: Tony was a focalrecoiliot, citing his days in "Ugly Rumours" as the definitive evidence that we ought to go to war with Iraq (I mean, with America, against Iraq)instead of investing in our hospitals and schools.
Etymology: From that film (sorry, movie) Total Recall, "focal" meaning "nothing", "recoil" meaning "backward jerk of a gun" and "idiot" meaning "Governator". Who else wants some acid?
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COMMENTS:
don't atke this the wrong way Bulletchewer but I think focalrecoil might have worked better because it's the same number of syllables as total recall - Jabberwocky, 2007-04-18: 13:28:00
I meant don't take but you probably figured that out - Jabberwocky, 2007-04-18: 13:30:00
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Logihooey
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: läjihoōē
Sentence: Whenever Cindy approaches her father with a proposal to buy something he bombards her with logihooey, passionate drivel about how he had to work for everything he has ever owned. To hear him, you would think that, as a baby, he had to work to buy his own diapers.
Etymology: logic (reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity) + hooey (nonsense)
Colorpoohpoohle
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: kol or poo pool
Sentence: When Lavender asked her Daddy to buy her a computer, he was mauved to colorpoohpoohle her request. He entered a Purple Haze and told her a plum crazy story of how he had to lilac a sidewalk when he was young, just to get his Daddy to give him a magenta crayon to finish his homework. His Daddy thought just heliotropes used that color and it spurred him to almost violet behaviour towards his son. Luckily his mother had grape expectations of her only son and his father's amethyst-icuffs did not scare her or his son. Poor Lavender, she had long ago drifted into a deep purple haze when listening to this periwinkle of a tale, because she was mauved to boredom.
Etymology: Color (an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading)& Pooh-Pooh (express contempt about;reject with contempt) & Play on Color Purple (Alice Walker Book and 1985 Steven Spielberg film)
Anecdotophile
Created by: zrotv
Pronunciation: ăn'ĭk -dŏt'ə-fīl
Sentence: I try to have logical conversations with people who don't read, but they are always such anecdotophiles. They never have any sources for information, just nebulous myths and stories.
Etymology: anecdote and phile (New Latin -philus, from Greek -philos, beloved, dear, from philos, beloved, loving.)
Nostalgit
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation:
Sentence: dad was such a nostalgit it was difficult to believe he'd ever had lead in his pencil
Etymology: nostalgic cit
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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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
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