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.

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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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)

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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)

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COMMENTS:

I like it `.' - RightOnTheWin, 2010-09-22: 03:02:00

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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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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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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)

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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)

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COMMENTS:

wonderful - Jabberwocky, 2009-03-11: 10:39:00

Wow! :-) - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:43:00

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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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