Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To simplify, dramatize and fictionalize scientific knowledge so that it appeals to a general audience. n. A scientific fact, which has been exaggerated and dumbed-down to make it more "interesting".
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.
Signce
Created by: splendiction
Pronunciation: SIGH ence
Sentence: The "butterfly effect" is the signce of chaos.
Etymology: signce n. from sign or signal and the word science.
Shocumentary
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: shäkyəmentərē
Sentence: Well we’ve lasted through another Sharkweak. Seven days of people ”risking their lives” to show us just how dangerous sharks are. Each shocumentary tried to outdo the other scaring their audience, at least in the promos.
Etymology: shock (a sudden upsetting or surprising event or experience) + documentary (a movie or a television or radio program that provides a factual record or report)
Sciperbole
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: sy per bo lee
Sentence: Ed Speriment was the Grade 8 Science Teacher. It was not that he loved Science or knew anything about it, it was a choice between this class or teaching Sex Education (something he knew even less about and was not likely to learn). They do say the best way to learn something is to teach it, so Ed hoped that he could learn enough about the subject of Science to fool the little hooligans in his class at Hormone Junior High School. He exaggerated so many concepts and used simple tricks to try and get the curriculum through to unwilling minds. He called it his theory of Sciperbole. For Chemistry, he had success in showing Chemical reactions...which became a real Soap Opera. Who knew Bleach and Ammonia were not on speaking terms and brought the worst out in each other? Butyric Acid, yes it sure does smell like after your pregnant, single sister has had morning sickness. In Biology, he helped them see that old pizza under your bed, dead mice in the air vents or wet socks in your locker could grow whole new worlds of creatures. In Kinetics, he had them experiment at home. The volume of beer given to their Dads at night directly impacted the amount and timespan of inertia they observed of their paters on the couch, snoring in front of late-night paid programming. For Astronomy, he had them chart their horoscopes every day. (Everyone should be a Virgo until they get married, he would joke!) And Physics was easy, because he just showed them old Star Trek and Dr.Who shows to learn the salient words and concepts of time and space travel. (Yes, TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space-Question #25 on the final exam!) All the kids got A's and everyone loved Mr. Ed. for making Science fun, even if it wasn't very scientific!
Etymology: Science (a particular branch of scientific knowledge;ability to produce solutions in some problem domain) & Hyperbole (Exaggeration;to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth)
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COMMENTS:
All the kids at MoreScience Highschool owe you a debt of gratitude for your prolific contributions. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 01:14:00
I'd like to thank the members of the Academy...oh no, that's for my Oscar! Cheers & Thanks. - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 01:22:00
great blend - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:17:00
Thoroughly enjoyed the class of Ed Speriment. Edceptional verbotomy, too! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 16:06:00
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Scienterrific
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: sīəntərifik
Sentence: The science programming on on John's favorite channel is very good at making mundane subjects scienterrific.
Etymology: science (the state of knowing) + terrific (extraordinary)
Lowdumbdown
Created by: kateinkorea
Pronunciation: LOW dum DOWN
Sentence: I asked for his understanding of the lowdown on the new cloning technology, and the typical cognitwit that he is, he gave me the lowdumbdown version. He thinks he is so smart that he has to talk down to me. I think we should have him cloned just so we have two of him to send out for coffee from now on.
Etymology: LOWDOWN: the true and most important facts about something to know DUMBDOWN: an over-simplification of something thought to cause a decline in its quality or value
Scifidumb
Created by: TJayzz
Pronunciation: Sy-fy-dum
Sentence: Whilst trying to explain the details to the general public about the inner workings of quantum physics, the scientists, in order to scifidumb the subject, resorted to employing a nursury school teacher to simplify things and also an author with a good imagination to make things more interesting by adding a few false facts.
Etymology: Sci-fi(Abbreviation of science fiction) + Dumb(as in dumb down) = Scifidumb
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COMMENTS:
it would be fun to hear verbotomists explaining quantum physics - I bet we cold come up with some interesting false facts - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:29:00
No doubt there Jabberwocky!! - TJayzz, 2009-01-31: 13:58:00
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Driveldings
Created by: silveryaspen
Pronunciation: drih vul dings
Sentence: On television, the overly-simplified science, dripping with over-the-top sexual inuendo, and ever-so- sneaky subliminal suggestions, that advertisers put in their commercials, insults your intelligence, far more, than it convinces you to buy their products. Commercial breaks are well named, for they certainly break-your-cool with their driveldings. Can anyone stand those half-hour and hour-long driveldings they refer to as infomercials?!!! It's enough to drive your kids to pick up a book and read!
Etymology: DRIVEL, DINGS. DRIVEL - silly talk, often irrelevant or inaccurate talk. On tv, they often try to pass it off as scientific. DINGS - 1) to ring with a high-pitched sound. 2) talk repeatedly
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COMMENTS:
infomercials are terrible but what I find astonishing are the drug adds that end with several minutes of side effects - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:22:00
Amen. Equally astonishing is that people still take them knowing those side effects! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 15:38:00
Now I take Dammitol! - metrohumanx, 2009-01-31: 22:49:00
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Naturtainment
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: nāchərtānmənt
Sentence: Bob loves to watch all the naturtainment shows. He gets all the excitement of a soap opera without all the ugly visions of reality. Somehow the cute doe-eyed thing-a-ma-critter always finds a way to just barely escape the maw of the vicious predator. His favorite ones are the old ones sponsored by Mutual of OMG.
Etymology: nature (the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations) + entertainment (the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment)
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COMMENTS:
I used to love Mutual of OmaGod when Marlin Perkins was supposed to hold the rope to keep Jim Fowler safe from the critter they were wrangling and would almost always let it slip. That's naturtainment! - otherguy, 2009-01-30: 06:33:00
Love it! - wayoffcenter, 2009-01-30: 06:36:00
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Gnawledge
Created by: readerwriter
Pronunciation: naw-led-geh
Sentence: At first, Sophia thought it was stupid. Her science teacher at Totally High School had just given the class something he called a Sillybus. On their handouts, a bus was pictured on a kind of map travelling over land and water. The teacher explained the journey the science class would take throughout the school year towards something he called the land of GNAWLEDGE. The teacher promised to show the class that every organism, living or dead, was fed or became food for other organisms in a boat called a HIGHERARKY. For those students who were spiritually-minded, the teacher would present a special section called the Angel Food Cake Walk and prove that after all the little things you couldn't see were eaten by the things you could see, then angels, which you couldn't always see, ate people which you could only see for a while. That day, at morning break, Sophia decided to become anorexic.
Etymology: A play on KNOWLEDGE, the fact or state of knowing + GNAW, to bite or chew persistently
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COMMENTS:
love the story - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:16:00
Thanks for the high praise, Jabberwocky! - readerwriter, 2009-01-30: 11:53:00
Memorable story and verbotomy - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 15:43:00
no way! if gnawledge's etymology is based on "chew persistently", then doesn't that mean quite the opposite (or at least different) than "to simplify"? To me, this word means chewing on information and slowly making your own judgment, in contrast to passively swallowing "knowledge" that was produced by someone else - elcanyonazo, 2009-02-07: 15:28:00
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Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Well put.
...and thank you for letting me "vent".
Thank you for venting! Obviously you are very gnawledgeable. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James