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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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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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Expressinsensitive

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: ikspreshinsensitiv

Sentence: Spock is so focused on logic that he often puzzled by human emotion. He can be expressinsensitive.

Etymology: expression (the look on someone’s face that conveys a particular emotion) + insensitive (showing or feeling no concern for others’ feelings)

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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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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.

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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)

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Cueless

whipspeak

Created by: whipspeak

Pronunciation: Cueless - rhymes with clueless.

Sentence: "That guy is cueless... "

Etymology: Clueless: missing necessary information + cue (short for non-verbal cue)

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Facialoser

Created by: weareallbeautiful

Pronunciation: f-ay-sh-uh-l-oo-z-r

Sentence: The guy who lived down the street from me was such a facialoser he thought i was being nice when i was insulting him.

Etymology: facial+loser

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Mienconstrue

petaj

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

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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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Misinterpotato

Created by: purpleartichokes

Pronunciation: miss-in-tur-pah-tay-toe

Sentence: My boss is one of those people who has a permanent grin affixed to his face, which is why I always find myself in hot water for committing misinterpotato.

Etymology: misinterpret, potato (slang for head), Mr. Potato Head (a toy with easily discernable facial expressions)

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COMMENTS:

I like this one, too. Silly, but descriptive. - Clayton, 2007-05-09: 19:00:00

Thanks. I had words that would probably be better liked by the consensus, but this one looked like misterpotato(head). I love Mr. Potatohead! And I loved the way it sounded. Mis-in-ter-po-ta-to. It's benign and semi-comical (in my humble potato-head's opinion). - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 20:14:00

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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