Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To have difficulty recognizing, and correctly interpreting, human facial expressions. n. A person who cannot read faces.
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.
Empaphy
Created by: mustilicor
Pronunciation:
Sentence: While most people eventually overcome their ignorance of other's discomfort, for some this utter empaphy lingers indefinitely.
Etymology: empathy pronounced with the lisp of a small child
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COMMENTS:
Very creative. I tend to just mash words together, which gets old after awhile. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 19:57:00
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Unfaciful
Created by: folieadork2
Pronunciation: un/fac/i/ful
Sentence: Unable to read her facial expression, he was unfaciful.
Etymology: un- not faci- face
Emotionull
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: iˈmō sh ənəl
Sentence: Rudy is the perfect person to work the exchange desk. He is absolutely emotionull. He doesn*t get rattled by angry, screaming customers because doesn*t understand those feelings. He never learned to read expressions. To him jovial looks just the same as irate. He has been taught to tense certain muscles in his face when working. He has been told that doing this looks something like a smile and that it will help in his job. Most of his clients leave semi-satisfied but creeped out by the look on his face.
Etymology: emotional (arousing or characterized by intense feeling) + null (lacking distinctive qualities; having no positive substance or content)
Mienconstrue
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
Afacia
Created by: mjmlabs
Pronunciation: uh-FAY-shuh
Sentence: Dan's got to be very careful when he goes out drinking; last weekend, his afacia almost got the two of us killed or arrested, I'm not sure which.
Etymology: Aphasia ("partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease") + a cheap pun on "face"
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COMMENTS:
Well done! - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 14:50:00
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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".
Ircomprehensible
Created by: AlyssaluvsBTR12
Pronunciation: ir-compre-hens-ible
Sentence: John has an ircomprehensible brain, for he cannot understand Jen's expression.
Etymology: Ir- Not compre-figure hens-out ible- able
Emotimyopia
Created by: cohenarie
Pronunciation:
Sentence: Emotimyopically, Missy (who'd had a few too many) continued to flirt with the bartender, despite his sarcastic sneer and her friend's embarrased winces.
Etymology: Emotion and myopia, obviously
Discognify
Created by: jonobo
Pronunciation: dis-cogni-fy
Sentence: He completely discognified her defensive monkey-smile for an open invitation into deeper conversation. She discognified my looks on her T-Shirt for interest in her *oops*, but actually i was only interested in the printing-technique of the message on her chest.
Etymology: dissonance = reduced to "dis" cognitare = latin for recognize identify dissonance + cognitare + identify = discognify.
Comments:
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
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?
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