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.
Conciface
Created by: Artomun
Pronunciation: n. KAHN-sih-fiss; v. KAHN-sih-fayss
Sentence: n. The teacher used a conciface in order to increase understanding among his students. v. Sometimes it is necessary to conciface so people will understand a concept. However, concifacing can be difficult with some subjects. Many things have been concifaced in classroom settings.
Etymology: Concinno- make, cause to be, render (Latin); Facilis- easy (Latin).
Sugarcover
Created by: elona
Pronunciation:
Sentence: Sugarcovering the effect probiotics have on the human health will make the people believe they need to consume more yoghurt.
Etymology: sugar and cover, for sweetening the facts so they are more easily ingested.
Tryptostretch
Created by: jajsr
Pronunciation: Trip-toe-str-etch
Sentence: After Thanksgiving dinner, Shawn sat down on the couch and started to doze off. When his nephew, John, asked him why he was so sleepy, Shawn said it was because of the tryptophan in the turkey. Little to Shawn's knowledge, John had just finished watching a special about the "tryptophan myth", and realized Shawn just delievered a classic tryptostretch.
Etymology: Combination of "Trypto" from tryptophan - amino acid in turkey that's 'supposed' to make you sleepy; and "stretch" - an exercise of something beyond ordinary or normal limits - exaggeration.
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)
Desciencetize
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: de-SCI-ehns-eh-tize
Sentence: Albert was a bit of a dunce where science is concerned but he had a gift for gab so by using a smattering of actual knowledge, sprinkling in an abundance of gibberish and doubletalk he could desciencetize just about any kind of medical or scientific information.
Etymology: A play on the word 'desensitize'
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COMMENTS:
BRAVO! Down with pseudoscience! - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 00:33:00
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Chemhistory
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: kem his toree
Sentence: When Sodium met Chloride, they produced a child named Salt, who ended up waiting on tables. When the Hydrogen Twins met Oxygen, they all landed in hot Water. When Iron and Oxide's stormy marriage began to bore, their relationship became very rusty. Sooner or later people would know that Silicone had had some work done. Tune in tomorrow for more chemhistory in that Great SubOpera, Another Half-Life to Live.
Etymology: Chemistory (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions;the way two individuals relate to each other) & History ( the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings;
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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Xcisefiles
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: X/cise/Files
Sentence: Be sure to watch PBS's latest and greatest scientific adventure yet, in the show all the scientific world is buzzing about 'The XciseFiles' starring David Duchonvy as Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully. In this week's nail biter, with a surprising and shocking ending, the two stars take you on a long, scary and sometimes dangerous journey on how water boils at 100 degrees celcius, turns to steam, then condenses and turns back to rain, or water. Don't miss this week's shocking, suspenseful premier called 'The Water Cycle'.
Etymology: XciseFiles - noun - from EXCISE (to remove, or cut out) + X-FILES (former popular TV show above strange and possible scientific facts and recent movie 'X-Files - I Want to Believe'
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COMMENTS:
terrific sentence - you must be a science teacher - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:18:00
I smell an Emmy...good word! - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 17:56:00
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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