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.
Attragitalessize
Created by: sjfrank
Pronunciation: atTRAGitalessize
Sentence: I always attragitalessize about new devices which I read about but don't know what they do.
Etymology: combination word attractive - beautiful; digital - electronic; less - useless; size - verb form; sizer- noun
Whatchamashinything
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: wəchəməshīnēθing
Sentence: Ralph loves his gadgets. Though he hardly knows how to use them, he just has to have the newest whatchamashinything.
Etymology: whatchamacallit (used to refer to a person or thing whose name one cannot recall, does not know, or does not wish to specify) + shiny thing (used to express something that is distracting)
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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Wowidget
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: wouwijit
Sentence: Wendell spends much of his spare time in the wowidget store admiring the newest **gotta haves**. The fact that he doesn*t understand them does little to suppress his awe. He does understand that his vocabulary is being truncated by people who don*t have time for all those pesky syllables. He used to buy applications. Now they are just apps. He used to use a telephone. Now it is just a phone (soon to be a pho or fo?) He also knows that he is quickly running out of mon(ey).
Etymology: wow (expressing astonishment or admiration) + widget (a small gadget or device, esp. one whose name is unknown or unspecified)
Gorgeberry
Created by: w5lf9s
Pronunciation: gorge-berry
Sentence: He had loved it. The shiny touch screen. The color display at the back. The "find me in the dark" function. The sleek leather carrying case. He had looked at it a hundred times that first day he'd had it. He hadn't taken it to the office right away because it had been such a pleasure to imagine the look of sheer envy in his colleagues' eyes when he would pull it out of his briefcase the first time. He had thoroughly enjoyed that first time! Last night on TV he saw an ad for the NEW model ... a new gorgeberry!
Etymology: gorgeous+blackberry (also related to the verb "to gorge" as in "devour" or "consume")
Whatchamacovet
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: wha-tcha-ma-cov-it
Sentence: Jim watchamacoveted the new marvelous toy that his neighbor's son got for Christmas. "A wonder to behold, it was, with many colors bright. And the moment he laid eyes on it, it became his heart's delight. It went 'zip' when it moved and 'bop' when it stopped and 'whirr' when it stood still. He never knew just what it was, and I guess he never will".
Etymology: whatchamacallit: something whose name is unknown or forgotten; a widget, gadget, gizmo, doodad, thingamajig or doohickey + covet: blameworthy desire for another's stuff; wish for longingly. "The Marvelous Toy" (apologies to Tom Paxton)was a song sung by Peter, Paul and Mary (RIP) about a mystical toy, handed down from father to son, that had no name, no purpose, but seemed to have magical powers to amuse and delight the recipient.
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COMMENTS:
Good blend...I remember that old song! - Nosila, 2009-12-30: 01:53:00
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Incretoolity
Created by: porsche
Pronunciation: in/creh/tul/itee
Sentence: he couldn't disguise his incretoolity when he walked down the aisles at Home Depot.
Etymology: incredulity + tool
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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Inflappuation
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: in flap u ay shun
Sentence: When he saw her pink electronic device, Kenny had an attack of inflappuation. Like a magpie obsessed with shiny things, he was attracted to all things from cyber space. So bemused was he that he failed to notice Wendy's "device" was actually her container of Secret deodorant. That is why it is strong enough for a man, but made for a woman!
Etymology: Infatuation (an object of extravagant short-lived passion) & App (short for application...a program that gives a computer instructions that provide the user with tools to accomplish a task)
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