Category: Verbotomy

Verbotoweek: A Cup of Verbotomy Please…

Petaj Wins The Verbotomy Cup!

Congratulations to petaj for winning this week’s Verbotomy and the very first Verbotomy Cup. The questions is: What special word will she choose to have imprinted on her smiling mug? Will it be her top scoring “insultant”? Certainly an appropriate “mot” if she works at a large office…

And of course we must honor the closest competitors, Jabberwocky, Stevenson0 and Purplearitchokes. All three of these writers have been verb-to-verb with the winners each week this month, and were noun-to-noun with petaj all week long. In fact, Jabberwocky and Stevenson0 are at the very top of our list of all-time creative writers. They are also two, of the first three players, to have created over 100 verboticisms. Jabberwocky now has 100 words. Stevenson0 has 105 words. And the ersamus has 102! And guess what? Petaj is right behind these leaders with 99 words, and Purplearitchokes is following closely with 97. There are a few other players who joined Verbotomy when it was launched for beta-testing in November/December 2006, and belong to this founding group: Alchemist (96 words), ErWenn (94 words), and rikboyee (91 words). (If any of these stats are incorrect, please let us know…) Cheers to all of you! We enjoy your brilliance!

See the final weekly results here:
https://www.verbotomy.com/verbotomists.php?week=2007-04-23

Verbotoweek in a single pair of graphs

There can certainly be eaudoubt that this week’s verbotomy challenge was strictly mindoverbatter with the insultants and indinatarys profijeeroring from our petifoul disclothesure. When the scornstar charged in with his stalkportfolio, wearing only flip flops which exacerbated his stangst and stinkytoesis, the odorosis was so significant it flattergasted the office with appreekhension. Things came to a cerebroil when the petiquette revelationship came to light and the belligerist began to snuffleupaguest right in front of abusedriver, which caused the passengers on the bus to cravewave someone they could stalkognize so they could escape the anxietydisodor. There was much to be said this week for the telekitchenesis in the mass mindcrowave. So get your fingers poised over your keyboards for this week verboticisms.

Top five verboticisms of the week:

  1. insultant Created by: petaj
  2. indignatary Created by: purpleartichokes
  3. scornstar Created by: porsche
  4. stangst Created by: petaj
  5. mindcrowave Created by: rikboyee

Interesting and creative conversations

Comments on insultant Created by: petaj

galwaywegian – 2007-04-23: 06:46:00
terrible, useless word. I’m giving you my vote even though you don’t deserve it!

wordmeister – 2007-04-23: 10:08:00
Obviously, galwaywegian works for a very large, very successful, and very expensive insulting firm. So begrudgingly, I will follow his lead and proffer my two cents to petaj.

petaj – 2007-04-23: 18:45:00
Thanks for the reprehensible comments. Is that the best you can do in the way of profijeering. And you call yourselves scornstars! Hmmph.

purpleartichokes – 2007-04-23: 19:23:00
I agree with galwaywegian. Your word is a boil on the verbotobutt, a verbotocyst. My vote was just pity points, don’t take it too seriously.

Jabberwocky had people’s tongues wagging, and stomachs turning, with marvelous sentence for Revelationship, her verbotocism about the discovering a friend’s “shrine” of somewhat compromising photos: “The revelationship that Jim had feelings for her caused her to hurl all over his new laptop.” Petaj commented “euww! vaiomit. Is there a tablet for that?”, and ohwtepph followed with “Nice… *vomits too*”. Wow! It’s amazing what you can do with all this new technology!

HEY! These words are better than most, but we ignored them this week!! WHY?!?!?!

Your stumbling observer,

Weeklink

The Verbotomy Cup

Yes the rumors are true!

This week we are offering new wampeter for Verbotomists everywhere — The Verbotomy Cup!

The Verbotomy Cup

The top player of the week, based on our weekly Author ranking, will win a their own personalized Verbotomy Cup. It is a beautiful, machine-made, 10 oz ceramic cup, which will be emblazoned with the winner’s favorite Verbotomy comic and favorite Verboticism. Everything you need to verbotomise your friends and/or colleagues while enjoying a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Official Stuff:

The winner will be chosen based on the final stats on the Verbotomy Weekly Author Ranking for the week starting on Monday April 23, 2007.

Prize: The Verbotomy Cup with your favorite Verbotomy and your Verboticism. (Approximate Retail Value: Not available at retail.)
Contest Start Date: April 23, 2007 at 3:00:00 am EDT
Contest End Date: April 29, 2007 at 11:59:59 pm EDT

For Weekly Author Ranking see:
See: https://www.verbotomy.com/verbotomists.php?week=2007-04-23

For complete contest rules and regulations please see our Verbotomy Contest Rules and Regulations.

You must me so hot in those boots.

DEFINITION: Anxiety caused by fear that one’s body odor may offend others; often exacerbated when required to remove heavy sweaters, or footwear.

You must me so hot in those boots.

VERBOTICISMS: (Invented words created by the Verbotomy Writers)

Stangst: /stank-st/ Colin was in a spiral of increasing anxiety. His stangst caused him to never remove an item of clothing, which lead to even more perspiration, causing an even greater stink of body odour and greater levels of stangst. Etymology: stank + angst Created by: petaj.

Stinkytoesis: /stinky-toe-sis/ Barb’s acute stinkytoesis caused her to break out in hives whenever she encountered a display of flip flops. She had to order all of her footwear online. Etymology: stinky toes + psychosis Created by: Jabberwocky.

Smelfconcious: /smelf-con-shus/ when i realised i would be expected to take off my shoes i started to feel very smelfconcious Etymology: smell, selfconcious Created by: rikboyee.

Anxietydisodor: /angs-eye-ity-dis-Odor/ After a long day in the sun David had anxietydisoder, sniffing his under arm after taking off each layer of clothing. Etymology: anxiety disorder/ odor Created by: toadstool57.

To see more verboticisms for this definition go to:
https://www.verbotomy.com/verboticisms.php?jid=boots

Be Creative,

James

www.verbotomy.com
the create-a-word game

Where did you get all these photos? Of me!! In my bedroom…

DEFINITION: To discover that one of your “just friends” friends maintains a lovingly tended shrine in their bedroom, consisting mostly of compromising photos and/or videos of you.

Where did you get all these photos? Of me!! In my bedroom...

VERBOTICISMS: (Invented words created by the Verbotomy Writers)

Flattergasted: /fla-tur-gas-ted/ Jill was flattergasted when she saw the number one video of the day, “Jill Does Dallas.” Etymology: flattered, flabbergasted Created by: toadstool57.

Revelationship: /revel-ay-shun-ship/ The revelationship that Jim had feelings for her caused her to hurl all over his new laptop Etymology: revelation + relationship Created by: Jabberwocky.

Stalkportfolio: /stalk-port-foh-lee-oh/ Donny had spent a lot of time assembling his stalkportfolio and just had to share his investment with Jenny. Etymology: stalk + portfolio Created by: Stevenson0.

Disclothesure: /diss-clothes-yure/ When Georgie saw the reliqueery that Bobby had created s/he was shocked at the disclothesure. There s/he was in all his/her naked glory on every wall of the room. Etymology: disclosure + clothes Created by: petaj.

To see more verboticisms for this definition go to:
https://www.verbotomy.com/verboticisms.php?jid=shrine

Be Creative,

James

www.verbotomy.com
the create-a-word game

The Verbotomy Interview: Rikboyee

Verbotomy Game Inventor, James Gang, chats with Vonnegut Week’s Winning Verbotomist, Rikboyee!

James Gang: Congratulations for winning top spot at Verbotomy this week! You can see the final results at: https://www.verbotomy.com/verbotomists.php?week=2007-04-16. Now would you be wiling to share a few of your trade secrets with us? I would like to ask you about your creative approach? What do you do? How do you consistently come up with such great verboticisms?

Rikboyee: Most the time they just pop. I tend to be a word masher. If I am struggling for ideas I do have a look at what other people are coming up with… And recently I have also gone to thesaurus.com for inspiration.

James Gang: What about Kurt Vonnegut? Are you a KV fan? And did you find the Verbotomy word challenges harder, or easier, during KV week?

Rikboyee: I am a MASSIVE KV fan. He is my all time favourite author. I have read all of his books. [Except for his most recent collection of short musing. Oh, and Palm Sunday, but it’s only a matter of time] Slapstick is my favourite book of all time. I didn’t find it any harder this week. Some definitions were tricky. Some not so hard.

James Gang: Obviously, being a big KV Fan certainly help your on Vonnegut Week. You game up some truly Vonnegutian words. Now let me ask you about Verbotomy. If there was anything you could change about the game, what would it be?

Rikboyee: The voting and scoring system is a bit exploitable. Especially now there are prizes up for grabs. Someone could join the site on a prize week, make up 20 words from the backlog of definitions and end up with 220 points. Then they’d most likely win the week without even scoring a single vote. That would suck.

James Gang: Actually the weekly scoring system capped so that you only get points for the first five words that you create in a given week. This makes it fair for everyone. But it does seem weird when a new player creates 5 word on the first day then appears to jump way ahead of the pack. However, these rabbits are capped and the rest of the steady player (retortises all) will catch them. But this is something we are working on and will fix.

Rikboyee: And with prizes it also makes it hard to vote honestly… Should I vote for that awesome word even though it will mean that person will end up ahead of me on the ladder? It’s a moral dilemma., I can tell you.

James Gang: Yes prizes and incentives do changes things, and make it a little more complicated. But after watching players create hundreds of words, I think that the best words do rise to the top.

Rikboyee: Is it possible to keep the authors and running totals secret until after you’ve cast your votes? And should it be compulsory to have out your votes in before you can submit your next word? Oh and I’ve often thought you shouldn’t be able to vote until the next day. So that all the words have been submitted before anyone can vote. So basically each day you go to the site, there’s a new definition and a complete list of yesterday’s words (with the authors and running totals hidden), and you have to put in your 2 votes before you can submit a new word. Or something like that…

James Gang: Save the voting until tomorrow. Yes, I call it the Yesterday Voting System. A few people have suggested that idea. In fact, when I first designed the game that is how I thought it would work. And in the first prototypes, people could not see, or vote for any other words, until the following day. However it seemed unsatisfying, because this is the internet, and everyone is used to getting all the information they want instantly. People want immediate feedback. That’s why we have opened it up and allowed to see everyone to see and vote on everyone else’s words. And for me, one of the most entertaining things is ready the comments that everyone makes on each other words. I think that it promotes group’s overall creativity…

Of course if a lot of Verbotomy Writers want to use the Yesterday Voting System, we could test it out again.

Rikboyee: I’d also like some sort of Overall Scoreboard…instead of just week to week.

James Gang: Yes, that would be a good idea! It’s on the drawing board. We are getting near the end of our conversation, would you like to suggest a Verbotomy Definition?

Rikboyee: I would feel wrong suggesting a definition, because then if I came up with a good word for it. it would seem a bit ‘convenient’.

James Gang: Yes very convenient, In fact it is a convenience, to which several players have opportuned themselves. Anyways, I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me. And once again I congratulate you on your terrific victory on Vonnegut Week. I have received the hardcover copy of the Cat’s Cradle, and as added bonus for you, it appears to be a 1963 edition, so it must be a collector’s item! I will mail it to you this week. I am sure that as “Massive KV fan” you will treasure it!

 Rikboyee: Thanks for your awesome site. I am a shameless Verbotomy addict (found your site through JayisGames) and the fact that you had a Vonnegut tribute just reinforces that I am amongst like-minded folk.