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.
Alibressive
Created by: k3nbr33
Pronunciation: a-lib-ress-iv
Sentence: The man was alibressive when he thought the woman liked him by her smile
Etymology: a-without libr-read essive-expression
Disfacism
Created by: Jocoman
Pronunciation: dis-face-ism
Sentence: Jill's new boss hired her due to his extreme disfacism, causing him to believe her blinking was winking.
Etymology: Dysfunctional + face + ism.
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COMMENTS:
I realized after creating this word that it should actually be spelled dysfacism, proving that I'm retarded on my very first post. - Jocoman, 2007-05-09: 21:26:00
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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
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
Auspockling
Created by: thefreewheeler
Pronunciation: awe - spock ling
Sentence: You have to spell it out literally for Timmy--the damm freak has auspockle syndrom; that's right--he's auspcokling big time.
Etymology: "au" from autism. "spock" from Spock, the character whose Vulcan half rejects emotional, non-logical input.
Snublivious
Created by: karenanne
Pronunciation: snuh BLIV ee us
Sentence: As Ron and Janie were leaving the restaurant, and Janie said vaguely, "Yes, uh, we should get together sometime," Ron didn't pick up on the fact that this was basically a kiss-off. He should have been clued in by the fact that when she said it, she was A. looking at her watch, B. looking bored, C. NOT looking at him, D. NOT giving him her phone number, and E. NOT asking him for HIS phone number. Actually, the fact that she hadn't smiled once during their whole dinner date probably should have been hint #1, but he had interpreted that as intense interest in him. He was so snublivious that he took out his calendar and started leafing through it looking for good days to go out again. He was surprised when she began inching away and suddenly jumped into an available cab. Looking back later, he asked himself, "How come I never see this coming?"
Etymology: snub + oblivious
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COMMENTS:
snublicious word - Nosila, 2009-11-25: 23:08:00
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Missedemeanour
Created by: CharlieB
Pronunciation: miss-duh-mean-er
Sentence: As Bill threw his paper aeroplane across the classroom, Mr Smith frowned. Bill mistook his stern expression for one of delight, promptly grinned and set about making an entire air force from his maths text book. He wasn't being naughty, it was just an unfortunate missedemeanour.
Etymology: Missed (failed to notice or understand) + demeanour (facial appearance) + Misdemeanour (misbehaviour)
Visagenary
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: viz ah jen ne ree
Sentence: Let's face it, Claude is a visagenary when it comes to reading people...he can't. He has a lot of cheek, he gives a lot of lip and it's hard for him not to brow beat people. He nose it is wrong, but he runs off at the mouth. Clause does it for attend chin and rather than lose face, he misinterprets peoples' expressions. One of these days, he will get it in the kisser if he's not careful... a homemade facelift. Then no one will be able to read his facial expressions either, cause he'll have to go to a plastic surgeon, not a real one to save face.
Etymology: Visage (the appearance conveyed by a person's face;the human face) & Nary (not a one) & Visionary (a person with unusual powers of foresight;a person given to fanciful speculations and enthusiasms with little regard for what is actually possible)
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COMMENTS:
Ha! I read "attend chin" about ten times before I got it, then I laughed like a maniac... I'm so tired. Nice word though! - Tigger, 2008-07-09: 01:35:00
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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