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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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Kissermisser

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: kiss/er/miss/er

Sentence: Joe confused a smirk for a scowl, fear for friendliness, a grin for a grimace. He was a socially inept kissermisser.

Etymology: KISSERMISSER - noun - from KISSER (an informal term for the human face) + MISS (to fail to perceive, or understand)

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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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Visagenius

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: vis a jeen ee us

Sentence: Jerome thought he was such a visagenious when it came to reading the faces of young ladies he fancied. He could not have been more wrong. He always misinterpreted a "yikes" look as enthusiasm. Which explains why he never has a date...

Etymology: Visage (face;countenance) & Genius (unusual mental ability;a natural talent)

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Struggrin

Created by: Alchemist

Pronunciation: STRUG-grin

Sentence: Ever since half our team got put on Prozac, I've been struggrin to figger out whether someone is actually smiling, or just reacting to his altered brain chemistry.

Etymology: struggle, grin

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Misguise

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: miss/guys

Sentence: He would always misguise the apprehensive looks on co-workers faces and consequently talk to his boss when it was an inappropriate time

Etymology: miss + guise

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COMMENTS:

Can also be used as a noun. My boss wears a misguise every day. He always looks like he's smiling, even when he's pissed off. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 08:55:00

Great word because most guys miss these signals! - Stevenson0, 2007-05-09: 12:31:00

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Visagegoth

Created by: porsche

Pronunciation: viz/aj/gahth

Sentence: Jack was a noted visagegoth who had the manners to match his multiple faux pas

Etymology: visigoth + visage

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Confround

Created by: Discoveria

Pronunciation: con-FROWND

Sentence: Mick tended to confround around new people, especially when seeing smiles and shocked expressions.

Etymology: confound (to confuse) + frown

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Dissthwarted

Created by: geoamnesia

Pronunciation:

Sentence: I can't really tell if they are laughing or smirking -- so my life is about feeling dissthwarted and pretending not to be.

Etymology:

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Emotionblind

Created by: ratika

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Facilesmile

Created by: ngrzeda

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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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