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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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Missedemeanour

CharlieB

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)

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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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Converbal

Created by: Osomatic

Pronunciation: con + verb + ull

Sentence: I used to be converbal enough that I thought a big smile meant "I'm not interested."

Etymology: Like non-verbal, only with "con."

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Indisgrimacenation

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: in/dis/grim/ass/nay/shun

Sentence: His lack of indisgrimacenation led to many embarrassing encounters at the singles bar.

Etymology: indiscrimination (making no distinctions, confused) + grimace (facial expression)

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COMMENTS:

vERY NICE. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-07-10: 05:28:00

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Misinterprefacetion

mrskellyscl

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

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Badfacer

Created by: oliviabrown

Pronunciation: B-AH-d-FAY-sir

Sentence: I'm such a badfacer.

Etymology: {bad} not good, {facer} with faces

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Intowishin

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: In - too - WISH - uhn

Sentence: Darryl's friends joked behind his back that he had great intowishin'....whatever expression someone, especially girls, might have on their face, Darryl always 'interpreted' it to be whatever he was wishin' it might be.

Etymology: Blend of into and wishing...or wishin'. A play on the word 'intuition'.

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COMMENTS:

Very inventive! ...Wishin' I thought of that one. Really clever. - Tigger, 2008-07-09: 01:38:00

cLEVER - OZZIEBOB, 2008-07-10: 05:18:00

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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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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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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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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