Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To obsess over, and fantasize about electronic gadgets even though you can never figure out how they actually work. n. A beautiful but useless gadget.
Verboticisms
Click on each verboticism to read the sentences created by the Verbotomy writers, and to see your voting options...
You have two votes. Click on the words to read the details, then vote your favorite.
Newtonspire
Created by: jadenguy
Pronunciation: New - Tin - Spire
Sentence: She coughed into her sleeve as she roamed the back alleys looking for her available dumpster, one left undisturbed by the savage local gearheads; the south side seemed promising, teeming with office parks rented often to failed startups. Her next hit of Newtonspiration would come in the form of a smart-minifridge. The internet would never go want for her milk-status again!
Etymology: Apple Newton + inspire or perspire or maybe just a spire, like the holy thing on churches that doesn't really mean anything in modern Christianity (look it up).
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COMMENTS:
great story as usual jadenguy - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-04: 12:21:00
thanks! i really like to put time into carefully crafting the exact feel of my word through narrative. - jadenguy, 2007-06-04: 12:33:00
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Gizmofetish
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: GIZ - moe - fet - ish
Sentence: Being smitten with a very passionate gizmofetish, Warren could not pass up any opportunity to fiddle with technological toys or devices and often made a complete fool of himself with his absolute lack of understanding of how they work.
Etymology: Blend of 'gizmo' (A mechanical device or part whose name is forgotten or unknown; a gadget) and 'fetish' (any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence, respect, or devotion)
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COMMENTS:
It's terrible to suffer the stigma of a thingamajig hangup. Damn those deviant doohickeys! - metrohumanx, 2008-07-25: 01:15:00
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Electrowidget
Created by: texmom
Pronunciation: e lect o wid jet
Sentence: He bought the $600 red electrowidget as a gift for himself on Father's Day even though he had no clue what it was.
Etymology: electro - run by electricity widget - something non-understandable but useful.
Beautronic
Created by: abrakadeborah
Pronunciation: Bew-tron-ik
Sentence: Al was in awe of Katie's shiny new beautronic device. To his dismay...it was not something he could compute.
Etymology: Taken in part of the word Beautiful: "Beau" - The concept of beauty. Taken in part of the word Electronic- "Tronic" - Of or pertaining to electronics or to devices, circuits, or systems developed through electronics
Gizmotional
Created by: purpleartichokes
Pronunciation: giz-mo-shun-uhl
Sentence: Bob became gizmotional and overwhelmed with gadgeglee upon opening his new 10-in-one remote control, until he realized the only button he recognized was "On".
Etymology: gizmo, emotional
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COMMENTS:
very heartfelt purple - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-04: 12:01:00
Good word. - ErWenn, 2007-06-04: 12:09:00
Good thing I didn't add the part about him pushing the down button and crushing the neighbor's cat under their garage door. (flintstones, meet the flintstones... thanks for my current bout of tunacy jabber. grrrrr....) - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-04: 12:13:00
Word of the day. I get so gizmotional, baby... every time I watch Gremlins Two-hoo-hoo. - Clayton, 2007-06-04: 21:45:00
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Contriviance
Created by: blacklotus90
Pronunciation: kun-triv-ee-ance
Sentence: That new RSS-reading toaster is nothing more than a contriviance!
Etymology: Contrivance (a device to perform a certain task) + Trivial (pointless, useless, futile)
Whatchamadooz
Created by: ErWenn
Pronunciation: /ˌʍʌtʃəməˈduz/
Sentence: My new vacuum cleaner comes with all sorts of whatchamadoozes and wherchamattachits, but the instruction manual only has very ambiguous pictures.
Etymology: From "What does it do?" in the same way that "whatchamacallit" comes from "What do you call it?"
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COMMENTS:
I think that the ambiguous, uncaptioned picture-instructions included with some whatchamadoozes would make a good verboticism. - ErWenn, 2007-06-04: 02:33:00
OK, just to be fair I'm waiting until later today to vote, but rest assured: you've got my vote. One of 'em, anyway. - Clayton, 2007-06-04: 06:27:00
Thanks both for voting and for waiting! - ErWenn, 2007-06-04: 12:08:00
I think they call those drawings Picasholes. I've used one to try to assemble what looked like a simple filing cabinet. Five months, and five friends later, it's almost together! - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-04: 15:29:00
Done and done. - Clayton, 2007-06-04: 21:41:00
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Eieio
Created by: shutz
Pronunciation: e-i-e-i-o, as in "Old McDonald had a farm"
Sentence: He kept buying eieios, and was running out of room to keep the useless but sexy gadgets.
Etymology: Comes from the recent marketing trend of adding e- and i- previxes to otherwise ordinary names to make them hip, current and modern. Also, the "io" part vaguely relates to "input/output", which is intrinsic aspect of all electronic devices, and can also
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COMMENTS:
eieiooooo or eieioh would work as well! - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-04: 13:28:00
You got my vote for originality and creativeness! - Stevenson0, 2007-06-05: 21:43:00
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Technoideum
Created by: CharlieB
Pronunciation: teck-no-id-e-um
Sentence: Billy's dad is so uncool. He's got an iPad and an iPhone and a Blackberry and a Twitter account, but he's never even heard of Angry Birds. He's a total technoideum.
Etymology: techno (short for technology) + no idea (clueless) + idi (incomplete form of idiot) + um (expressing hesitation)
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by shutz. Thank you shutz! ~ James
Read about Jabberwocky's Garden of Verbal Delights in Verbotoweek.
pronunciation: uh-GOG-uh-tek........... sentence:Poor old Ira Gobler was AGOGATECH at his designer's latest device.He was so AGOGATECH that he let the factory's flaccid finances flow into a virtual vat of vapors while he thoughtfully tinkered and tweaked the tin toys and gamboled among the gizmoes generated just beyond the grounded iron gates of the fabrication facility...Someday...he would write an operator's manual...................... etymology: Agog+at+Technology=aGOGatech!
Sometimes my "comments" seem to appear in the wrong places....if only some clever soul would invent a GIZBO to prevent that.
....my brain hurts.....
Today's definition was suggested by shutz. Thank you shutz. ~ James