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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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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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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

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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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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

metrohumanx Now I take Dammitol! - metrohumanx, 2009-01-31: 22:49:00

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Dimmunology

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: dim mewn ol o jee

Sentence: Explaining how the body contracts diseases to his pretty but ditzy girlfriend, Dody, was a lesson in dimmunology for Professor Speigel.

Etymology: Dim (slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity) & Immunology (the branch of medical science that studies the body's immune system)

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Shocumentary

artr

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)

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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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Cybertific

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: sy ber tif fik

Sentence: With the advent of the computer age, no stone is left unturned in the quest for knowledge. To make scientific information digestible to the great masses, many sites have become cybertific. This means that domains of eminent scientists and years of research and investigation have been simplified so that anyone who can turn on a computer, can cut and paste deep information. Such data is then used by these sci-pirates on facebook and twitter to submit as their own assignments for school. Thank you Wikipedia.

Etymology: Cyber (relating to or characteristic of the culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality) & Scientific (conforming with the principles or methods used in science)

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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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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