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'Instead of replacing our old light bulbs...'

DEFINITION: n. An environmentally friendly program or product which does not live up to expectations. v. To try to save the planet by buying something green only to find out that it's just a load of bunk.

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Verboticisms

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Conservascam

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: con-ser-VAY-scam

Sentence: Sherman had just made the first payment on the water recovery and power saver program he bought from the door to door salesman when he began to realize it was really a conservascam and the worst part was his wife, Wilma, sneering and reminding him she'd tried to steer him away from the slick talking salesman.

Etymology: Blend of 'conserve' (save) and 'scam' (con job)

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Scamwow

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: skæmwaʊ

Sentence: The late-night pitchman made the knockoff absorbent towel sound like the answer to almost all of Jerry's "being-green" concerns. He would never need to buy paper towels again saving hundreds of trees. He could scrub surfaces clean without using cleaning chemicals. It turned out to be a scamwow moment when he read the disclaimers on the packaging and found out that the warranty was limited to occasional use only (once a month) and that it was made from the hides of several endangered species.

Etymology: scam (a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme) + Shamwow (brand of absorbent towel sold via infomercial)

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Environmentalies

Created by: EpicButCrazy

Pronunciation: en-vire-oh-ment-al-eyes

Sentence: The program to reuse light bulbs was just a heap of environmentalies. People soon found that they got no light from burnt-out bulbs.

Etymology: environmentalize + lies

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Sneakosystem

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: sneek o sis tem

Sentence: When Gabby Tat decided to join the green movement, a slick salesman sold him an expensive earthworm farm, complete with millions of the wiggly creatures, to help renew the earth and rid the soil of impurities. Gabby bragged about his "farm"...which was in his urban backyard. A few days after he "planted" his livestock, he went out on a rainy day to check on the "herd". To his surprise, when he turned over the soil, he could find no worms. He then figured he'd bought a sneakosystem. Hundreds of robins had decided to visit his backyard and now he knew why!

Etymology: Sneak (someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions;make off with belongings of others) & Ecosystem (a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment)

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Unconservashuns

Created by: silveryaspen

Pronunciation: un con serve vay shuns - my way to say cons which serve no good purpose (Oyvay!) deserve shuns

Sentence: To process grains, such as corn, into ethanol, to use as a substitue for the fossil fuel gasoline, takes a great deal of energy. That energy needed to distill it, usually comes from fossil fuels of oil or gas, using more oil or gas, than if you just put gasoline in your vehicle. Ethanol, is not so green, after all. Furthermore, it takes land away from the production of food. This fiasco is so disadvantagous and unproductive, it deserves to bite the dust. Like so many other green products, it saves nothing and is not our salvation. By refusing to purchase and use them, let us make such green flops and duds into unconservashuns.

Etymology: UN - meaning not. CONSERVATION - the word for preserving and protecting before the synonym green became more popular. SHUN - to avoid in every way because it is bad, not good.

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COMMENTS:

My word bothered me all day long ... and after much thought ... I finally fixed it! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-20: 21:22:00

Really good word and I love your sentence. - kateinkorea, 2009-03-21: 00:44:00

I agree - splendiction, 2009-03-21: 16:52:00

Double ditto! Good word and sentence Silveryaspen :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-03-22: 22:45:00

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Agreenafoolic

Created by: missmari

Pronunciation:

Sentence: I tried to recycle my used lightbulbs but it turned out to be an agreenafoolic concept.

Etymology:

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Whattage

Created by: mweinmann

Pronunciation: Wat + aj

Sentence: Although Donna pledged to help the "green" movement by buying products that were supposed to last longer, she found that she often had a whattage problem. Either the bulbs did not give her enough light or they were more environmentally unfriendly to dispose of then the ones she used before.

Etymology: What? and Wattage

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COMMENTS:

Fits right into the cartoon! Well done! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-20: 21:12:00

Whatt Whit! - Nosila, 2009-03-20: 23:06:00

I like it. - kateinkorea, 2009-03-21: 00:22:00

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Envirollusion

Created by: BookWorm579

Pronunciation: en-VIE-row-loo-zhun

Sentence: The newest "low-flow" shower head was a blatant envirollusion as it simply stopped the flow of water.

Etymology: Derived from "environmentalism" and "illusion".

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Gaiarbage

Created by: galwaywegian

Pronunciation: guy arb aj

Sentence: The ecologifest had an array of gaiarbage including a lot of AlGorubbish and several inconveniant fruits

Etymology: gaia garbage

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COMMENTS:

Four great verbotomies! Using gaia is brilliant! - silveryaspen, 2009-03-20: 09:49:00

Awesome. Very appropriate word. - kateinkorea, 2009-03-21: 00:35:00

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Ecorrobbery

Created by: BoltonAlan

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-03-20: 00:01:01
Today's definition was suggested by readerwriter. Thank you readerwriter. ~ James

silveryaspen - 2009-03-23: 15:06:00
Your great definition, readerwriter, and your clever cartoon, James sure inspired a spate of great creates!

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-03-24: 11:55:00
I thought I had bright idea, but it was bit dark... ~ James

silveryaspen - 2009-03-24: 16:28:00
I thought your clever use of color and shading to express darkness visually in your cartoon was brilliant! I know that's an oxymoron, but I couldn't figure out another way to say it!

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-10-04: 00:42:00
Today's definition was suggested by readerwriter. Thank you readerwriter. ~ James