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.
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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Spinquiry
Created by: rombus
Pronunciation: spin - qury
Sentence: Maude's spinquiry about whether the dingbats were making all the noise in their attic caught Clyde's attention.
Etymology: Spin and Inquiry - Spin=to turn things around, change them Inquiry=question
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COMMENTS:
Very good combination! - Banky, 2009-03-11: 11:26:00
Delightful - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:53:00
great word,rombus...spintastic - Nosila, 2009-03-12: 00:15:00
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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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Freaquest
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation: free kwest
Sentence: She was very pretty, but complying with her freaquest would have involved a misdemeanor, two felonies and at least four visits to a chiropractor
Etymology: request, freak
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COMMENTS:
that must have been one freaky question - Jabberwocky, 2009-03-11: 11:23:00
very freakgestive - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:46:00
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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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Enigmachination
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: en/ig/mak/in/ay/shun
Sentence: The professor liked to jolt the students into clearer thought by beginning each class with an enigmachination.
Etymology: enigma + machination (trick, ruse)
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COMMENTS:
Terrific idea===== Great idea and word - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:29:00
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Evoqunotion
Created by: kateinkorea
Pronunciation: ee VOKE que NO sheun
Sentence: Several times a year Dr. Miller would lay an evoqunotion on us, to get us to think outside the box. He would suddenly ask us a question that seemed very complicated and difficult, or even impossible. Usually the solution was to look for another way of interpreting the question. Of course he always used the classic ‘nine-dot’ creativity puzzle at some point in the semester-the originator of the thinking outside the box concept. Initially the students would stress over these questions for days, but near the end of the semester the students were waiting with bated breath for the next one to come out.
Etymology: EVOKE: prompt, spur QUERY: question NOTION: idea EVOLUTION: change over time
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COMMENTS:
what a foxy outboxy creative sentence. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:41:00
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Idiokcrazy
Created by: abrakadeborah
Pronunciation: Id-e-o-ock-cra-zee
Sentence: Darlene went to the service station to get them to check the water level in her 1977 VW beetle radiator. As she asked Joe the service station mechanic to do this...Joe could not believe the "idiokcrazy" of the car owner not knowing there was no radiator on that car! Joe just rolled his eyes in an "idiokcraziedly" way. Darlene laughed because she knew her car had no radiator... Then,her husband Dan went into the hardware store and asked a clerk an "idiokcrazy" question about the seats on his wheelbarrow (that he really only needed a new wheel for). The clerk amused Dan then continued on to ask Dan if he wanted a leather or cloth seat?
Etymology: Idio- from the word idiot ; DUMB k ; ok Crazy ; out of their mind. To think someone is not only crazy but also an idiot... :)~
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)
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by metrohumanx. Thank you metrohumanx. ~ James