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'Then we go for the brain!'

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".

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Verboticisms

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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:

metrohumanx BRAVO! Down with pseudoscience! - metrohumanx, 2009-01-30: 00:33:00

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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.

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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).

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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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Naturtainment

artr

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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Dorkumentary

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: dawrk-yuh-men-tuh-ree

Sentence: By the time the network was done making the scientific study interesting and understandable to their audience, all they succeeded in producing was a dorkumentary.

Etymology: dork (a silly, out-of-touch person who tends to look odd or behave ridiculously around others; a social misfit) + documentary (based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements)

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Idioticks

Created by: abrakadeborah

Pronunciation: id-ee-ot-icks

Sentence: The idioticks section of the Science test may be found on page 0h-0ne-0h-0ne.

Etymology: Idio- Part of idiotic - Very stupid. Icks- (Made up)and pertaining to ; a person who doesn't have the capacity to retain scientific facts.

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Seinsteinfeld

GlobalGallery

Created by: GlobalGallery

Pronunciation: sine-stine-feld

Sentence: It's gonna be a hit I tell ya. It's a sitcom, set in New York, and it's all about this wacky bunch of friends who are really into theoretical physics.

Etymology: 1.Seinfeld - A popular TV comedy set in New York City starring Jerry Seinfeld. 2.Einstein - German born Nobel prize winning physicist who formulated the theory of relativity.

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COMMENTS:

fantastic - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-30: 11:16:00

What a combination! Einstein and Seinfeld! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-30: 15:45:00

Great, a show about nothing...0 = MC2, what a Quantum Leap Year! - Nosila, 2009-01-30: 17:49:00

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Defactoid

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: de-fac-toid

Sentence: Due to the success of his book, "K-9 ET" (Extra-terrestrial Doggies), Fred became the defactoid authority on canine aliens. He was a popular guest on the talk show circut and, after appearances on Larry King and The Tonight Show, landed his own cable television show, called "Is Your Dog an Alien?"

Etymology: de:remove from + fact: truth -- defacto: dominant standard or law that exists because of common acceptance rather than authority + factoid: a "fact" that exists to create or manipulate public opinion - often applied to newsmedia accused of publishing untrue or unverified articles for the purpose of sensationalism.

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-01-30: 00:01:01
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James

metrohumanx metrohumanx - 2009-01-30: 00:09:00
Well put.

metrohumanx metrohumanx - 2009-01-30: 01:18:00
...and thank you for letting me "vent".

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-01-30: 12:11:00
Thank you for venting! Obviously you are very gnawledgeable. ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-08-16: 00:40:00
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James