Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To obsess over, and fantasize about electronic gadgets even though you can never figure out how they actually work. n. A beautiful but useless gadget.
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.
Whatchamadooz
Created by: ErWenn
Pronunciation: /ˌʍʌtʃəməˈduz/
Sentence: My new vacuum cleaner comes with all sorts of whatchamadoozes and wherchamattachits, but the instruction manual only has very ambiguous pictures.
Etymology: From "What does it do?" in the same way that "whatchamacallit" comes from "What do you call it?"
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COMMENTS:
I think that the ambiguous, uncaptioned picture-instructions included with some whatchamadoozes would make a good verboticism. - ErWenn, 2007-06-04: 02:33:00
OK, just to be fair I'm waiting until later today to vote, but rest assured: you've got my vote. One of 'em, anyway. - Clayton, 2007-06-04: 06:27:00
Thanks both for voting and for waiting! - ErWenn, 2007-06-04: 12:08:00
I think they call those drawings Picasholes. I've used one to try to assemble what looked like a simple filing cabinet. Five months, and five friends later, it's almost together! - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-04: 15:29:00
Done and done. - Clayton, 2007-06-04: 21:41:00
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Imacguffin
Created by: Osomatic
Pronunciation: i + mac + guff + in
Sentence: I don't know what this new iMacguffin is, but I MUST HAVE ONE.
Etymology: iPhone, iPod, etc... only applied to a Macguffin.
Wowidget
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: wouwijit
Sentence: Wendell spends much of his spare time in the wowidget store admiring the newest **gotta haves**. The fact that he doesn*t understand them does little to suppress his awe. He does understand that his vocabulary is being truncated by people who don*t have time for all those pesky syllables. He used to buy applications. Now they are just apps. He used to use a telephone. Now it is just a phone (soon to be a pho or fo?) He also knows that he is quickly running out of mon(ey).
Etymology: wow (expressing astonishment or admiration) + widget (a small gadget or device, esp. one whose name is unknown or unspecified)
Gizjizz
Created by: bmills
Pronunciation: Giz/jizz
Sentence: "Dude, you got the new Badberry!?? That's Awesome! I think i just gizjizzed myself. "
Etymology:
Bombtronic
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: bom - tron - ik
Sentence: Bernice's new bombtronic device failed miserably as a phone or as a browser either. It looked cool, sounded cool but she could not make or receive phone calls or navigate to any web sites. None of the games that came on it worked well either. She just liked to carry it around, show it off and hear all the cool ring tones.
Etymology: bomb (to fail, blow up), electronic
Gorgeberry
Created by: w5lf9s
Pronunciation: gorge-berry
Sentence: He had loved it. The shiny touch screen. The color display at the back. The "find me in the dark" function. The sleek leather carrying case. He had looked at it a hundred times that first day he'd had it. He hadn't taken it to the office right away because it had been such a pleasure to imagine the look of sheer envy in his colleagues' eyes when he would pull it out of his briefcase the first time. He had thoroughly enjoyed that first time! Last night on TV he saw an ad for the NEW model ... a new gorgeberry!
Etymology: gorgeous+blackberry (also related to the verb "to gorge" as in "devour" or "consume")
Preadget
Created by: nbsalomon
Pronunciation: pree-jit
Sentence: Lacey's preadget was hot pink and sparkly, but only a paperweight!
Etymology: pretty+gadget
Nerdbrain
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: nurd-breyn
Sentence: John has to have every new device or gadget that hits the market. The only problem is he is such a nerdbrain that he can barely figure out how to open the package much less than make it work. The good thing is that he has pristine items to trade in or re-sell when the new one comes out.
Etymology: nerd (stupid or ridiculous person ) + birdbrain (a stupid, foolish, or scatterbrained person)
Newtonspire
Created by: jadenguy
Pronunciation: New - Tin - Spire
Sentence: She coughed into her sleeve as she roamed the back alleys looking for her available dumpster, one left undisturbed by the savage local gearheads; the south side seemed promising, teeming with office parks rented often to failed startups. Her next hit of Newtonspiration would come in the form of a smart-minifridge. The internet would never go want for her milk-status again!
Etymology: Apple Newton + inspire or perspire or maybe just a spire, like the holy thing on churches that doesn't really mean anything in modern Christianity (look it up).
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COMMENTS:
great story as usual jadenguy - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-04: 12:21:00
thanks! i really like to put time into carefully crafting the exact feel of my word through narrative. - jadenguy, 2007-06-04: 12:33:00
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Gizmobsession
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: giz mob sess shun
Sentence: Brandy had a gizmobsession with her latest purchase. She showed it to all her friends who thought it was cool, but did not understand its function. Truth is, Brandy did not know what it was for either. Her friends were too embarrassed for her to point out that her latest download app was actually a letter opener/windshield scraper mounted on a fridge magnet...
Etymology: gizmo (a device that is very useful for a particular job; something whose name is either forgotten or not known) & Obsession (an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone)
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by shutz. Thank you shutz! ~ James
Read about Jabberwocky's Garden of Verbal Delights in Verbotoweek.
pronunciation: uh-GOG-uh-tek........... sentence:Poor old Ira Gobler was AGOGATECH at his designer's latest device.He was so AGOGATECH that he let the factory's flaccid finances flow into a virtual vat of vapors while he thoughtfully tinkered and tweaked the tin toys and gamboled among the gizmoes generated just beyond the grounded iron gates of the fabrication facility...Someday...he would write an operator's manual...................... etymology: Agog+at+Technology=aGOGatech!
Sometimes my "comments" seem to appear in the wrong places....if only some clever soul would invent a GIZBO to prevent that.
....my brain hurts.....
Today's definition was suggested by shutz. Thank you shutz. ~ James