Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To ask a someone a bizarre question in order to get them to think outside their mental little boxes. (And to see if they are actually listening.) n. A creative provocation designed to pull people out of their daily stupor.
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.
Quirqrelease
Created by: petaj
Pronunciation: quirk ree-lees
Sentence: With a twinkle in his eye, Jack threw a quirqrelease into the business arising. The chair cracked up while the secretary's handwriting went all shaky as she stifled her laughter while taking the minutes.
Etymology: quirk (oddity) + q (for question) + release (break out) + quick release (device for emergency escapes)
Stunmulate
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: stun myu layt
Sentence: When the geek asked Elvira for a seat for his wheelbarrow, she, being the quintessential helpful sales associate quipped quickly to the question designed to stunmulate her out of a boring sales day. He told her it needed a seat and she proceeded to flourish her tape measure and tell him that if he needed to ride in the wheelbarrow, he'd need a safety approved seat belt, a helmet and a made-to-measure bucket seat. They just needed to measure his seat area...all part of the service.
Etymology: Stun (overcome as with astonishment or disbelief) & Stimulate (cause to be alert and energetic;cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner)
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
I like it `.' - RightOnTheWin, 2010-09-22: 03:02:00
----------------------------
Hawkinvestigate
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation: haw kin vest igg ayt
Sentence: the hawkinvestigation of his neighbours washing line led to a big bang
Etymology: hawkin as in stephen, investigate
Zenquiry
Created by: bookowl
Pronunciation: zen-kwire/ee
Sentence: A zenquiry requires complete silence and meditation. The questions are open to interpretation and often surprising.
Etymology: zen + enquiry
Prodvoke
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: prädvōk
Sentence: During his weekly meetings with his staff, Larry loved to prodvoke people to think outside the box. As he was being fired, he was reminded he worked for a packaging company and that people are paid to think INSIDE the box.
Etymology: prod (an act of stimulating or reminding someone to do something) + provoke (stimulate or incite)
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
carton me, but a good story! - Nosila, 2010-09-22: 18:03:00
----------------------------
Flabberquest
Created by: Banky
Pronunciation: Flahb-burr-qwehst
Sentence: The Introduction to Vatican Law class gasped audibly as it read the first flabberquest on the exam. Father Malkinson reclined in his chair, satisfied that his students were not only now awake enough to take the exam, but that no one would get the question right, as the Pope had never even vacationed in the woods.
Etymology: (flabbergast - gast) + (question - ion)
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
wonderful - Jabberwocky, 2009-03-11: 10:39:00
Wow! :-) - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:43:00
----------------------------
Homedepose
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: home de pose
Sentence: When Kyle asked about a seat for his wheelbarrow, Katie the associate was used to getting homedepose idiotic questions all the time. Her experience had prepared her to think outside the box store and have a ready response.
Etymology: Home Depots (famus US home goods retailer, known for its signature orange color and pretty much in every city in USA & Canada...) & Pose (ask a question)
Yeastinflection
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: yeest-in-fleckt-shun
Sentence: Juanita had a very 'bubbly' personality and a bit of an off-the-wall skew on life in general and she often tried to get a 'rise' out of people by putting a bit of a yeastinflection in her approach and would ask seemingly pointless questions in order to goad her companions into making responses to what were sometimes very personal matters.
Etymology: 'yeast' (1.A microscopic fungus) and 'inflection' (1.A change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person), and a play on words on 'yeast infection'.
Evocogitreat
Created by: metrohumanx
Pronunciation: eee-VOE-codge-a-TREET (evocogitreatment)
Sentence: Gill Bates wasn't really mullicious, but his job as a border guard had affected him in strange ways. Years of interrogating aliens caused him to ask bizarre, sometimes profound questions. Questions were his bread, and answers were his butter. Metaphors were his condiments, but only on weekends. Gill's EVOCOGITREATMENT of the language usually resulted in a far-away look shrouded in a roaring silence, but one night he ordered a pizza cut into NINE slices, causing a vessel to burst in the chef's brain. He frequently asked the goth kid at the gas station to change the air in his tires. The waitress couldn't tell him the origin of "chicken fingers", and the local policeman couldn't explain the absence of "GO" signs. When Gill asked his librarian if she had "books on paper", she had to call her supervisor. Gill Bates now spends his retirement peeling grapes and wondering what would happen if an atomic bomb was detonated in the eye of a hurricane. Perhaps he should EVOCOGITREAT the French Ambassador.....They'd probably love to detonate a low-yield nuke in the South Pacific...and it wouldn't bother them ATOLL!
Etymology: EVOke+COGITate+tREAT= EVOCOGITREAT.....EVOKE:to call forth, conjure, to re-create imaginatively, to bring to mind, tending to induce an especially emotional response; French évoquer, from Latin evocare, from e- + vocare to call .....COGITATE: (transitive verb ) to ponder or meditate on very intently; Latin cogitatus, past participle of cogitare to think, think about, from co- + agitare to drive, agitate.....TREAT: to present or represent artistically ,to deal with in speech, writing or action; Middle English treten, from Anglo-French treter, traiter, traitier, from Latin tractare to drag about, handle, deal with, frequentative of trahere to drag, pull.
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
Evocogitreat is mullicious, both are delightful and great creates. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:36:00
Do leaderships swim? - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:38:00
Since metaphors are his condiments, I don't relish trying to ketchup with Gill! He mustard gone to the Mayo clinic...good story! - Nosila, 2009-03-12: 00:12:00
Another GREAT create :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-03-25: 14:03:00
----------------------------
Stimulbait
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: stim yul bayt
Sentence: "Do you work here?" he asked to stimulbait the retail clerk. "No, I always wear an orange apron when I leave home." Ramona replied. He replied, "I need a seat, back tires, an engine, a steering wheel, a radio and a windshield for my wheelbarrow". "Whatever for, may I ask?" she asked. To which he replied, earnestly, "So that I can make a rider wheel barrow. That way I can do my garden chores faster and have fun in the process!" "Well, Honey", she said, "I am sure you can do it...I'm just not so sure we can help!"
Etymology: Stimulate (cause to be alert and energetic;stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of;cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner;provide the needed stimulus for;cause to occur rapidly) & Bait (something used to lure victims into danger or intrigue;anything that serves as an enticement;lure, entice, or entrap with bait)
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
Where can I buy a barrow like that and some of your great stimulbait? - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:56:00
----------------------------
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James