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.
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
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.
Aspergistic
Created by: heb319
Pronunciation: as per ji stic
Sentence: Same was very aspergistic and didn't realize it was bad timing to ask for money when her mother's face was so tight her scrunched eyebrows nearly met her frown.
Etymology: asperger's disorder--one sympton of which is difficulty understanding body language, facial expressions, and social cues.
Misinterprefacetion
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: mis-in-ter-pre-face-tion
Sentence: Jase was the king of misinterprefacetion, especially when it came to women. One day he thought he saw a "come hither" look on Miss Muffet's face and thought he might get lucky. In reality it was a look of horror because of a spider that sat down beside her (spiders creeped her out). So when he smiled at her she shivered and ran away, leaving him totally confused.
Etymology: misinterpretation: to interpret, explain or understand correctly + face
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".
Incountenance
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: in cown ten ants
Sentence: Jeff had a serious problem, particularly when he was around the ladies. He could not read faces or facial expressions. Because of it, he often misinterpreted the reactions he received from the fairer sex. Jeff suffered from incountenance and as a result, when he wanted them to stay, they wanted him to go!
Etymology: Incontinence (involuntary urination or defecation; indiscipline with regard to sensuous pleasures) & Countenance (the appearance conveyed by a person's face;the human face)
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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Wreckognize
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: rek - ug - niz
Sentence: To wreckognize is to not recognize.... Your ability to recognize someone's face or their expressions is ruined or destroyed. It does not mean that you are blind; but it probably does mean that you are not perceptive.
Etymology: wreck, recognize
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COMMENTS:
Love it - Nosila, 2009-11-25: 23:09:00
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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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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