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'My mother is a washing machine'

DEFINITION: n. The sacrifice a mother makes when she gives everything to her children, including life itself, and then simply lets them go. v. To give someone everything and then watch them walk away.

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Verboticisms

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Parentplegic

Created by: janatic

Pronunciation:

Sentence: I'd love to go out tonight, but we had an accident last night and i'm afraid i've become parentplegic.

Etymology: parent + paraplegic

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Momification

Created by: KatMitschke

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Mombotomy

Created by: toadstool57

Pronunciation: mom-bot-oh-mee

Sentence: It took 4 years of college and not returning countless phone calls from her mom but Jill was finally able to perform a successful mombotomy.

Etymology: Mom, lobotomy

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Babsication

Created by: oren22

Pronunciation: Bab pronuonced like tab.

Sentence: the first smile from a new born child, is worth all the babsication a mother has to make.

Etymology:

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Maternityield

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: ma-TURN-et-yield

Sentence: Maternityield manifests itself in many ways throughout the lifecycle. First she yields physically, then has to give up full control of her career and lifestyle, and eventually her car (and don't forget to top up the petrol before you get home, drive carefully) and then after all those years the little darlings take off leaving her in an empty nest.

Etymology: maternity + yield

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Mumacrifice

Created by: remistram

Pronunciation: mum-ak-rih-fyce

Sentence: Only when Ethel became a mother herself did she truly understand her own mother's mumacrifices.

Etymology: mum + sacrifice

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Philanmomthropy

Created by: Jocoman

Pronunciation: fill-an-mom-thra-pee

Sentence: Philanthropy is an important and generous thing, where a rich man gives something back to the community, but philanmomthropy is greater, because my mother gave me her everything without ever expecting a return.

Etymology: philanthropy + mom

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Chilflessness

Created by: Rhyme79

Pronunciation: chill-fuh-less-ness

Sentence: "My neighbour displayed such chilflessness when her son left the nest, it was quite moving."

Etymology: An amalgam of the words 'child' and 'selflessness'.

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Gestashun

Created by: porsche

Pronunciation: jest/ay/shun

Sentence: She enjoyed the pregnancy but loved the gestashun more - fortunately she had a stay at home husband

Etymology: gestation + shun

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Sacriglect

Created by: jedijawa

Pronunciation: sack-ree-glect

Sentence: Julie tended to sacriglect for her child in that she would give all that she could and then give up before the end.

Etymology: sacrifice + neglect

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 04:01:00
Today's definition was inspired by Cory Doctorow's novel Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, which is a story about a guy who's mother is literally a washing machine. It's a great read! And since this weekend is Mother's Day, it seems like the perfect fit! I was also thinking about "After the Siege" in Overclocked, where a mother pushes herself beyond exhaustion trying to save her child - the sacrifice. And purpleartichokes inadvertently suggested the mother idea with her comments on the younger degeneration. Thank you Cory and purpleartichokes! ~ James

ErWenn - 2007-05-11: 09:39:00
I noticed that many verbotomists focussed on the "letting go" part of the definition as the key, while others treated it as just one small part of the maternal sacrifice. I'm sure it says something about our personalities, but I'm not sure what.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 03:23:00
We have posted The Petaj Splinterview on the Verbotomy Blog. ~ James

Bulletchewer - 2007-05-11: 16:55:00
I "have issues" because I advocate free speech as opposed to miserable hypocrisy of censorship? HUSH

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 17:17:00
Hey Bulletchewer, I replaced four letters in your message with non-alphanumeric symbols. Did that make you unhappy? ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 18:59:00
Hey ErWenn, I agree with you. The words and language we choose to use do indeed reflect our personalities. And with a definition like today's, there are many different viewpoints, so it gets complicated... I guess that's why they have Freudian psychiatrists. ~ James

Bulletchewer - 2007-05-11: 19:18:00
It made me THE most $@*#ing miserable crybaby in the whole world! Just kidding.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 20:20:00
Me too. But that's okay, it's a game ~ James

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-11: 20:21:00
Anyways, in many parts of the world, this Sunday is Mother's Day, so I would like to remind all our verbotomists to take appropriate action (e.g. buy flowers). And to all our verbotomists who happen to be mothers, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for your wonderful creativity. ~ James

ohwtepph ohwtepph - 2007-05-11: 20:53:00
*gasp* I am so honored. Petaj used my word TWICE!!! in his splinterview. Now, I can die peacefully.

Clayton - 2007-05-12: 17:21:00
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the highest scoring words often do not reflect the part of speech suggested by the definition? Occasionally, this can be somewhat difficult to determine from a given description, but "the sacrifice a mother makes" clearly indicates that this word is meant to be a noun. Just nitpicking.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-12: 23:53:00
Hey Clayton, I have made a blog posting about this question. See: Parts of Speech and Verbotomy. It will be very interesting to hear what ErWenn has to say about this issue, since he also asked similar questions. ~ James

petaj petaj - 2007-05-13: 00:47:00
Clearly I should have mentioned that ohwtepph can also be relied on for coming up with not only amusing words, but very useful additions to everyday language.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-11-27: 00:01:00
Today's definition was suggested by doctorow. Thank you doctorow. ~ James