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.

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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.

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'.

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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)

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COMMENTS:

carton me, but a good story! - Nosila, 2010-09-22: 18:03:00

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Enlighteningjolt

Created by: mweinmann

Pronunciation: en + lite + ten + ing + jolt

Sentence: Clyde was hit with an enlighteningjolt when Melissa told him that the recent merger between Charmin and Microsoft would contribute greatly to Cloud Computing and that Software would now become much softer.

Etymology: Enlightening + jolt >> Enlightening (tending to increase or impart knowledge) Jolt (sudden jarring impact)

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COMMENTS:

Sentence left me smiling as much for what it did say, as what it implied. You lit a fire with this one, it burns ever so brightly. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:33:00

Good word and good sentence. - kateinkorea, 2009-03-12: 22:02:00

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Braintweezer

Created by: splendiction

Pronunciation: brain tweaser

Sentence: “Please don’t give me one of those braintweezers of yours right before I have to go to bed!” Paul warned his philosophy roommate Ato. Lately, Paul, Ato and a bunch of the others had been posing many mindbenders of eachother with sharp braintweezers that stimulated unused areas of the brain. “After the last braintweez, my mind’s swelling and redness lasted for days! I lost too much sleep with the throbbing thoughts in my head...although I did realize the world is really a shallow representation of the forms!”

Etymology: From the words brain and tweezer, to pinch; it is closely related to "brainteaser" but "braintweezer" causes more of a reaction in the recipient, more lateral thinking.

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COMMENTS:

Splendid word - silveryaspen, 2009-03-12: 00:51:00

Good! - kateinkorea, 2009-03-12: 22:04:00

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Mindgame

Created by: RightOnTheWin

Pronunciation: \ˈmīnd\ˈgām\

Sentence: Derek enjoys to mindgame “slow” people so they’ll demean themselves. However, the day came when Derek himself became the victim of mindgame.

Etymology: Mind ( The conscious mental events and capabilities in an organism ) + Game (Activity engaged in for diversion or amusement)

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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

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Interrogaugetion

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: int/ter/oh/gage/shun

Sentence: The detective threw in some crazy questions during the interrogaugetion to check and see if the suspect was listening.

Etymology: interrogation + gauge

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COMMENTS:

-excellent word! - splendiction, 2009-03-11: 22:11:00

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Yeastinflection

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: yeest-in-fleckt-shun

Sentence: Jeanetta 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 and inflection, and a play on words on 'yeast infection'.

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COMMENTS:

-oh, I wouln't want one of these! - splendiction, 2009-03-11: 22:09:00

You got a rise out of me, mustang...dough! - Nosila, 2009-03-12: 00:14:00

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Queery

Created by: karenanne

Pronunciation: KWEE ree

Sentence: Ms. Luny, our 7th-grade science teacher, loved to pose queeries that really made us think. My favorite one of all time was, "Why doesn't the sun come out at night when we need it?"

Etymology: query (question) + queer (strange; odd; peculiar)

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COMMENTS:

brilliant - galwaywegian, 2010-09-23: 14:28:00

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