Verboticisms

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: hīteknēks

Sentence: Rotary phones, transistor radios, 8-tracks, cassette players, VCRs, dial-up modems... Once the pinnacle of scientific genius, these marvels are now considered hitechniques, ancient relics of technology that has moved on. Some of them still function with a patchwork of adaptations. Most are only good for cannibalizing to keep others of their kind semi-functional.

Etymology: hitech (employing, requiring, or involved in high technology) + antiques (a collectible object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its considerable age)

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Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: ob-sol-lacks

Sentence: Charmain looked forlorn after her best efforts at obsolackss failed to provide a workaround to access her family history data from the ancient shiny disc she discovered in the attic. If only Grandma had practised lockss.

Etymology: obsolete + hack + lockss (lots of copies keeps stuff safe - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOCKSS)

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Created by: Fester361

Pronunciation: rel ee cas ett

Sentence: After several ours wasted, playing on their Nintendo Wii, Mike's kids were bored and decided to explore the attic. Rummaging through old boxes, they came across some mysterious plastic slabs, that appeared to have reels of tape inside. "Dad, how do we get the tape out?" they shouted. "You need to use the relicassette player," he replied. Mike went up into the attic and retrieved a giant metal machine with a huge A4 sized flap on the top. At the press of a button, the flap shot open and all manner of insects flew out. When switched on, the lights in the house went dim and the circuit breaker tripped. "I guess I should have copied these to DVD!" Mike said.

Etymology: Relic; an antiquity that has survived from the distant past. Cassette; A rigid or flexible light-tight container for holding radiographic recording media.

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COMMENTS:

Please be gentle, it's my first (of many, I hope) attempt. - Fester361, 2008-03-16: 04:44:00

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Created by: diyan627

Pronunciation: tek-no-sil

Sentence: Diyan wants to update her various technossil dated between 1995 and 2007. Only recently did she upgrade to a digital camera as it was bittersweet parting with her SLR Nikon N60. At least there is still an element of art in the use of SLR, but that's way more than can be said for her gigantic desktop computer and the cob-web of wires that pour out from behind it.

Etymology: technology + fossil

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COMMENTS:

Great word! Seems so obvious to me. - arrrteest, 2008-03-14: 14:36:00

Applies not only to the byte-gone devices but to the operators of them! I'm a technossil among all my stored technossils! Outstanding won! - silveryaspen, 2008-03-14: 18:36:00

Great word. - Mustang, 2008-03-14: 19:38:00

Thanks Arrrteest, Silveryaspen and Mustang! - diyan627, 2008-03-15: 11:17:00

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Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: pas say im pur fect

Sentence: Young Billy adored his grandfather and loved it when the old geezer told him stories about the passéimperfect. He knew his grandpa made this stuff up, but he loved to hear about the good old days anyway and in particular about the ancient tools they used. He regaled Billy with yarns about how his phone had numbers that went round and round when he stuck his finger in the holes for each set of numbers. Grandpa also told him about watching tv shows on the one channel in black & white and for some reason you needed a rabbit's ears to see the tiny picture better. (As if!) He also told him of cooking without using a microwave (yeah, right!) and buying big blocks of ice to keep everything in the fridge cold (you've got to be kidding!). That crazy Grandpa, he told Billy that a log on was something you put on a bonfire and that a link was something you put on your sleeves to keep the cuffs closed. He said a password was something you spoke into a grill on a door to get into a speak-easy (must be some kind of spellcheck for voice actioned computers?) Billy loved the really old things that Grandpa gave him. Like most boys his age, he loved dinosaurs. He was so excited today, because Grandpa was coming over and bringing him a thesaurus...he couldn't wait to play with it!

Etymology: passé (out of fashion) & past imperfect (grammar: tense imperfect refers to an action that is uncompleted or abandoned)

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COMMENTS:

Rrrawr! Oh no, here comes the fierce Thesaurus Rex!... That's hilarious. - Tigger, 2008-03-14: 03:09:00

All that was makes me curious about what is to come! Great etymology ... conveys the way passages from the old ... lead to the knew ... growing, evolving, better and better ... perfecting! A Perfectly wonderful sentence and word! - silveryaspen, 2008-03-14: 17:08:00

Thanks, Tigger & silveryaspen. I always thought the best name for the Toronto NBA Team was TorontoSaurus Wrecks...but no one would listen... - Nosila, 2008-03-14: 23:16:00

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Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: ree ty ro sar

Sentence: When Mary reached 65, she knew it was time to stop working. She had become a retirosaur. She no longer spoke the language of her younger boss and co-workers. She could remember working the teletype, a comptometer and her ancient Underwood typewriter had served her well. She had used a dictionary, a thesaurus, knew how to spell; remember people's names; compose grammatically correct sentences and do complex mathematical computations in her head. The staff loved her, but found her to be a quaint walking, talking museum on legs. Yes, Mary had worked for 45 years at the same place and the reason she had been kept on this long was because she knew how to do each job well and she knew where all the bodies were buried!

Etymology: Retire (Withdraw from circulation or participation; cease to work) & Dinosaur (any of numerous extinct terrestrial reptiles of the Mesozoic era)

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COMMENTS:

"Retirosaur!" Just like the Little Red Hen, let Mary say "Not I!" It's sad we can't make the good things that are in the past, more a part of the good things in the present ... glean the best of the both! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-07: 15:48:00

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Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: bay ta blok

Sentence: When Sammy tried to put his dvd in Grandpa's old video machine, he found it was in betablock mode. No wonder Grandpa had heart trouble. Sammy was confused and felt like someone travelling back in a time machine...Grandpa's videos were on Beta, his music on 8 Track, his movies were on 8 mm, his tv was in black & white and his telephone had a rotary dial. No wonder Grandpa was so old...it took him ages to get in contact with the outside world!

Etymology: Beta (old video format, before VHS) & Beta Blocker (any of various drugs used in treating hypertension or arrhythmia; decreases force and rate of heart contractions by blocking beta-adrenergic receptors of the autonomic nervous system)

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Created by: bigveg

Pronunciation: har-mee-dee-um

Sentence: son: dad, the kitten chewed my new shoes! father: here son, execute him with this laserdisc! son: nice harmedium dad! dad: i know

Etymology: harm, medium.

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COMMENTS:

Evokes lots of different thoughts! Wonderful originality! - silveryaspen, 2008-03-14: 18:01:00

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Created by: artr

Pronunciation: äbsəloōshən

Sentence: William loved old things. He loved books and vinyl records. He had the largest collection of 8-tracks of anybody he knew. When he snapped at one of his friends for teasing him he felt bad and decided to talk to his priest for guidance. After all who would understand him better than someone who's job was based on a book. When he got to church, he found that the confessional was now a cyber-cafe with a library of inspirational CDs and lessons on how to text the priest. Instead of absolution he got obsolution.

Etymology: obsolete (no longer produced or used; out of date)absolution (formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment.)

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COMMENTS:

Obsolutley fabulous! - Nosila, 2009-01-07: 19:00:00

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Created by: silveryaspen

Pronunciation: gadg jettison

Sentence: Gadgets evolve so quickly, that those of today, are outdated tomorrow, and become gadjettisons.

Etymology: GADGETS, JETTISON. GADGETS - machines, objects, things. JETTISON - throw out, get rid of, abandon, discard, ditch, chuck, dump, chuck out

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COMMENTS:

Egad! another top word! - galwaywegian, 2009-01-07: 12:05:00

great combo - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-07: 14:23:00

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