Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v., To search for and find a pen to write down an important note, only to discover that the pen does not work. n., A moment in time when the only pens you can find, are pens that do not work.
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.
Ballpointless
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: bôlˌpoint lis
Sentence: Rusty had a wonderful idea. This happened so infrequently that it seemed imperative to write it down. He reached for a ballpointless pen and proceeded to do little more than tear a hole in a piece of paper. This whole exercise was ballpointless. He then had to try his entire collection of paper scratchers. As he looked at the advertising message on a pen and wondered where he had pilfered each one, the original thought he wanted to save for humanity slowly faded away, never to return.
Etymology: ballpoint (a pen with a tiny ball as its writing point) + pointless (having little or no sense, use, or purpose)
Pendaver
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: pen/daver
Sentence: It's another of Murphy's Laws that writing utensils turn into pendavers when an important message needs to be scribbled.
Etymology: PENDAVER noun - from PEN (instrument for writing) + CADAVER (a dead body)
Inkoherent
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation: ink oh hee rent
Sentence: the inkoherence meant he just had to scrape her number onto his arm.
Etymology: incoherent ink
Bickenscratch
Created by: xirtam
Pronunciation: bic-en-skrach
Sentence: With the only pen I could find out of ink, I had to bickenscratch the phone number into the note pad so I could read the indentations later.
Etymology: bic: a brand of pen + Chicken Scratch: slang; poor or illegible writing. Scratch: To write or draw by scraping or cutting the lines into a surface.
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
To be precise, this is the inevitable result of the event described, but I like it! 'He bickenscratched his way through the morning until he finally found a pen that worked.' - Tigger, 2007-11-06: 13:23:00
I like it too. Resembles my grocery list. - purpleartichokes, 2007-11-06: 20:01:00
----------------------------
Frupenstration
Created by: remistram
Pronunciation: fruh-pen-strey-shun
Sentence: By digging a small grave for all his old pens helped his frupenstration anxiety, but he did keep his favorite purple pen under his pillow - in case the pen fairy happened to come around.
Etymology: frustration + pen
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
has a great sound to it - would be very satisfying to mutter when searching for a pen - Jabberwocky, 2007-11-06: 14:03:00
thanks! I was going to go with fruspentration, but it sounded odd...! - remistram, 2007-11-06: 16:20:00
----------------------------
Peninsulate
Created by: QuantumMechanic
Pronunciation: pen en suh late
Sentence: I knew the answer, but I didn't couldn't call in to win, because I was peninsulated -- all of the pens I found were dead.
Etymology: pen (ink writing instrument) + insulate (isolate), parallel to peninsula (an isolated spit of land)
Expendead
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: ex-pen-dead
Sentence: Every pen I find in this house is expendead.
Etymology: expended: used up; consumed + pen + dead
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
exzcellent - Nosila, 2010-03-03: 23:51:00
----------------------------
Inkinframed
Created by: leechdude
Pronunciation: ink- in- framed
Sentence: Joe was a reporter writing notes for how to stop pollution when he finally noticed his page was blank, "I've been inkinframed!"
Etymology: ink, framed
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
nice - leechdude, 2007-11-06: 21:10:00
----------------------------
Penacide
Created by: aiiden
Pronunciation: penuh-side
Sentence: Damn penacidal pens!
Etymology: pen+suicide
Emptipendink
Created by: NeuroGlyph
Pronunciation: Empty-Pend-Ink
Sentence: It is better to be pendink on a sharpened pencil than emptipendink on a non-working pen.
Etymology: Independent/dependent...sub the dent w/ink.
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by vixphilia. Thank you vixphilia! ~ James'
OZZIEBOB - 2007-11-06: 16:53:00
Good word!
Today's definition was suggested by vixphilia. Thank you vixphilia. ~ James
Petrikreink - 2020-03-03: 05:14:00