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'Look at that big smile!'

DEFINITION: v. To have difficulty recognizing, and correctly interpreting, human facial expressions. n. A person who cannot read faces.

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Verboticisms

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Misface

Created by: autophile

Pronunciation: miss-FACE

Sentence: Ever since Myron realized that he misfaced regularly in face-to-faces, his prefered interface space was the clean textual context of instant messaging.

Etymology: "Mis-", prefix meaning bad, wrongly, failure, and "-face" from both "interface" and plain ol' "face".

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Invisage

Created by: benjamin

Pronunciation: in-vis-ij

Sentence: Robert invisaged people in all situations; even in bed, he couldn't tell his wife's O-face from here "are we done yet" face.

Etymology: in (prefix meaning not) + visage (face)

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Defacement

Created by: guesser

Pronunciation: De-Face-Ment

Sentence: After nobody showed up for her party, she realized she was guilty of defacement yet again.

Etymology:

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Wroxpression

Created by: grahaff

Pronunciation: rox presh in

Sentence: The man was such a wroxpression. Whenever he saw someone giggling he would say to them, "What is wrong."

Etymology: wrong (not correct or true) + expression (the look on someone's face that conveys a particular emotion)

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Cueless

whipspeak

Created by: whipspeak

Pronunciation: Cueless - rhymes with clueless.

Sentence: "That guy is cueless... "

Etymology: Clueless: missing necessary information + cue (short for non-verbal cue)

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Mugmunge

Created by: jedijawa

Pronunciation: mug-munje

Sentence: Marc was bad about mugmunging facial expressions and thinking that people were reacting favorably to his boring stories.

Etymology: mug (face) + munge (to imperfectly transform information i.e. "address munging")

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Mienblind

Created by: OZZIEBOB

Pronunciation: MEEN-blahynd

Sentence: Roxie was certain that she had found the fountain of youth (or, perhaps, just Dani Minogue's Beauty Guide) when she came across an advert featuring the "Prosopial Pill," a startling, C21th make-over breakthrough, whereby one could look just look like he or she wanted to: having any skin, eye, or hair colour, and facial expressions, by simply taking this pill. Bob, upon hearing all this, became deeply concerned with the prospect of Roxie frequently changing her appearance, wondering whether he would be able, in future, to read her prosopialities. Seeking help, he immediately began flicking through "The Dictionary of Verbotomy" and for a while little interested him, and was about to put the book down when one word arrested his eyes: the word Mienblind.

Etymology: MIEN: facial expression, demeanour, bearing, appearance,aspect; air; manner; carriage; bearing or manner, especially as it reveals an inner state of mind & BLIND: unwilling or unable to perceive or understand; not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or judge. PROSOPIAL: From Gk, Prosop meaning face & PILL.

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Faceilliterate

Created by: pifty

Pronunciation: fejsilitereit

Sentence: he's so faceilliterate that he can't even tell wheather she likes him or thinks he's an idiot!

Etymology: face, facial + illiterate

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Mienconstrue

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: mean-con-strew

Sentence: Kerrod refused to admit that he had mienconstrue. He insisted he was just perception-challenged.

Etymology: mien + misconstrue

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Mismugamy

Created by: bookowl

Pronunciation: miss/mug/amee

Sentence: Mismugamy is the failure to note the true meanings of facial expressions.

Etymology: miss + mug + amy

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-05-09: 02:26:00
Today's definition was inspired by Cory Doctorow's short story "I, Row-Boat", where a sentient, and very sensitive Row-Boat has some difficulty reading a woman's facial expressions. See the full story in Overclocked. Thank you Cory! ~ James

metrohumanx metrohumanx - 2008-07-09: 02:49:00
MIENBLIND is very good- and far more cerebral than my entry. Good work, Ozziebob.

MaybeLater_x - 2008-08-19: 19:10:00
Visagenary is also a play on Imaginary, nay?

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-11-25: 00:48:00
Today's definition was suggested by doctorow. Thank you doctorow. ~ James

ldikarev - 2012-09-06: 16:44:00

ldikarev - 2012-09-06: 16:45:00
Prosopagnosia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia (Greek: "prosopon" = "face", "agnosia" = "not knowing") is a disorder of fa