Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: n. A person who constantly corrects other people's grammar. v. To habitually correct the grammar of everyone with whom you speak regardless of the social context or the minuteness the perceived error.
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.
Speakertweaker
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: speek - ur - tweek - ur
Sentence: Margerie could not listen to anyone without "tweaking" their statements so that the speaker's grammar and voice inflection were correct in the context of the sentence. Her family and friends became loath to even talk to her for fear of being corrected. Other than being a speakertweaker, Margerie's biggest compulsion was playing Verbotomy every day and checking her scores every hour.
Etymology: Speaker (someone who expresses in language; someone who talks) + tweaker (a person who tweaks something) tweak (fine-tune: adjust finely)
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COMMENTS:
nice one! - galwaywegian, 2009-01-16: 11:41:00
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Grammpolice
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: gram-puh-lees
Sentence: Mindy is sorry she ever introduced her Grampa to FaceBook. Worse yet is that she friended him. He has become the grammpolice, correcting her every misspelling, every errant comma or apostrophe. Her friends are leaving fewer and fewer comments because he has started "helping" them too.
Etymology: Grammar (the study of the way the sentences of a language are constructed) + Grampa (grandfather) + Police (an organized civil force for maintaining order, preventing and detecting crime, and enforcing the laws)
Lynnetrusstee
Created by: badsnudge
Pronunciation: lin-truss-tee
Sentence: When I told her it was 'an' elephant and not 'uh' elephant, she told me that I was a nal. "Certainly not. I am merely a humble lynnetrustee." I replied.
Etymology: Lynne Truss (author of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves) + trustee
Wordnerd
Created by: rebelvin
Pronunciation: wordnerd
Sentence: She wordnerds me every time I say the least thing grammatically incorrect.
Etymology: word+nerd
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COMMENTS:
Hey, quit making fun of the username! - werdnurd, 2008-03-26: 15:23:00
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Syntaxidermist
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: sin taxi der mist
Sentence: Lynn Gwistik was secretly known as Marian the Grammarian. She was a stickler for correct grammar. She was neither passive nor active, but always very tense. When she fell in love with the object of her desire, Jerry Und, she knew he was not perfect and she would have to try and modify him, because he was such an onomatopoeian. He had prepositioned her and when their ellipsis met, he was superlative. But we all know that love is of a transitive nature and when she tired of his dangling modifiers, her clause came out and she attempted a ligature on him. Jerry had not known that Lynn was a syntaxidermist before she had tried to have him mounted on her trophy wall with her other antecedents. Thanks to his testimony, she is serving an indefinite,run-on, compound sentence for her crimes.
Etymology: Syntax (the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences; studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences;a systematic orderly arrangement & Taxidermist (a craftsman who stuffs and mounts the skins of animals for display)
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COMMENTS:
That was a lot of thought on your part - very clever! I voted for yours but forgot to sign in first. - karenanne, 2010-06-02: 15:49:00
I count 18 grammatical references, plus the two punny names. - karenanne, 2010-06-02: 15:51:00
They call me the Queen of the Pundra...what can I say? - Nosila, 2010-06-03: 00:11:00
SO - you are on the site at 11 min. past midnight - THAT'S how you do it. Most of your REM sleep is probably spent on dreaming up words and sentences for Verbotomy! - karenanne, 2010-06-03: 19:37:00
Oh, that's right - I forgot you are on Mountain Standard Time, so it was only 10:11 pm for you. - karenanne, 2010-06-04: 19:17:00
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Gramstapo
Created by: arrrteest
Pronunciation: Gram-stop-oh
Sentence: Maude was a good wife. She tollerated and suffered throught many of her pet peeves about Larry, but the one she couldn't pass up was his poor language. He constantly spewed out mixed tenses as often as he mixed metaphors, and noun-verb agreement would always get lost somewhere in a sentence. Larry paid as much attention to what he said as much as she how much she corrected him. He just laughed it off as he called her his little "Gramstapo."
Etymology: Gram -from grammar + gestap - the Nazi secret police
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COMMENTS:
gestapo, that is. (Consider this a preemptive correction for the missing "o" to avoid any wannabe gramstapos out there from pouncing on me. lol - arrrteest, 2008-03-26: 12:42:00
Or, would it be called "gramstapoes?" - arrrteest, 2008-03-26: 12:42:00
or "gramstopi?" - stache, 2008-03-26: 12:55:00
Larry should not forget, "We ask the questions!" - OZZIEBOB, 2008-03-26: 17:34:00
Ja, gutes wort (yes, good word). Did you realize that you can 'Edit' your entry arrrteest? - Tigger, 2008-03-26: 22:54:00
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Correctolingweenie
Created by: metrohumanx
Pronunciation: cur-RECT-ALL-linguine
Sentence: Maxine and Clem were deeply in like. Clem was always sanguine and adored Maxine's crimson clothing and gutsy attitude. Maxine had moxie, but she was constantly irritated by Clem's use of the word "less" instead of "fewer". Maxine flew into a rage when she heard someone say "podiums" instead of the correct plural form, "podia"...Yes, Clem may have been an unsophisticated proto-boor, but Maxine was an unbearable CORRECTOLINGWEENIE -and an unwanted voluntary proofreader for all the world's bad grammar. When they inevitably broke up, Maxine found that she had less friends than before, and Clem had fewer fun, despite shaving off his sideburns and growing a unibrow.
Etymology: Okay, try to bear with me on this one..........CORRECTOL+LINGuist+WEENIE= CORRECTOLINGWEENIE...CORRECT:to make or set right,to amend,to alter or adjust so as to bring to some standard,to point out usually for amendment the errors or faults,to punish (as a child) with a view to reforming or improving; Middle English, from Latin correctus, past participle of corrigere, from com- + regere to lead straight...ALL:the whole amount, quantity or extent of,as much as possible; Middle English all, al, from Old English eall; akin to Old High German all...CORRECTOL: The Woman's Gentle Laxative." Its slogan: "For Gentle, Dependable overnight relief”...LINGUIST:a person who believes they are accomplished in languages;Latin lingua language, tongue...LINGUINE: a hot Italian dish, tasty and hard to resist;Italian, plural of linguina, diminutive of lingua tongue, from Latin...WEENIE:alteration of wienie, Informal. A wiener; Slang. A person who is regarded as being dorklike yet not subject to ordinary social inhibitions (tweaked).
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COMMENTS:
http://drminz.com/v4/random4.html - metrohumanx, 2009-01-16: 01:41:00
SAY IT!
Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat.
Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-16: 08:03:00
Your etymology is logical, Mr. Spock! - Nosila, 2009-01-16: 20:50:00
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Effeleven
Created by: youmustvotenato
Pronunciation: F-11
Sentence: Who cares if I said "me and my dog" instead of "my dog and I"? Don't be such an effeleven!
Etymology: from the keyboard shortcut for spellchecker
Conversatianal
Created by: Northwoodsman
Pronunciation: kŏn'vər-sā'shā'nəl
Sentence: She is so conversatianal that a small chat turns into an English lesson.
Etymology: conversation + anal-retentive
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COMMENTS:
kinda hard to say, but it hits the mark, I must say. - stache, 2008-03-26: 14:03:00
funny word - Jabberwocky, 2008-03-26: 16:04:00
"Teaching is the fine art of imparting knowledge without possessing it. " Nice word. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-03-26: 18:00:00
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Grammamend
Created by: diyan627
Pronunciation: gram-a-mend
Sentence: Rohit was a grammamend I couldn't date, much less tolerate in any setting. So what? -I meant "couldn't bear it" rather than "couldn't bare it". He corrected me in the instant messenger, and my replying with "Ahh" was not good enough. He went on to say that he can't stand people who can't handle criticism, and he thinks I'm petty. He wouldn't move on until I cyber-bowed down before him and thanked him for putting me on the right path. Quite bizarre. At first I didn't mind the correction at all..It didn't even phase me.. It was his insistence for recognition of his brilliance that was the clincher! And he actually thought I'd go out with him for a first-meet after that.
Etymology: grammar + amend
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COMMENTS:
Sounds like a true story. [By the way, you mixed verb tenses in one of your sentences. — Yours Truly, Rohit] Just kidding, diyan. - Tigger, 2008-03-26: 23:10:00
Don't worry. I'm not your [hopefully fictional] linguistalker. - Tigger, 2008-03-26: 23:15:00
Tigger, "linguistalker" is correct! The linguadventure is a true tale. hahaha... And he did keep calling me and IMing me after that one, but I linguiblocked him. - diyan627, 2008-03-27: 11:48:00
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Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by stache. Thank you stache. ~ James
stache - 2008-03-26: 09:16:00
You're welcome, JG. Very worthy submissions today
doseydotes - 2008-03-26: 09:22:00
I'm afraid stache's definition is in reference to yours truly. I looked at the suggested words and I'm floored. I might as well give up right now. Great job, everybody.
doseydotes - 2008-03-26: 10:53:00
And I gotta add, "Man, you loving bestest ever!" to my repertoire.
stache - 2008-03-26: 11:47:00
That'd be hoovy of you, 'dotes.
Yes, there are lots of gramudgeons and linguweenies here. Apparently, they're the bestest! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by stache. Thank you stache. ~ James
KatrinaNhor - 2018-06-02: 07:46:00
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