Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To adopt other people's words, phrases and linguistic stylings, and then try to make them your own by subtlety altering the syntax. n. A borrowed and butchered phrase
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.
Kleptoclintonism
Created by: green
Pronunciation:
Sentence: 'Yes she can' is just one example of ballsy kleptoclintonism. Hillary thinks voters are so dumb we don't recognize her light-fingered mouth.
Etymology: kleptomaniac plus clinton
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COMMENTS:
You could have said five-fingered mouth. (5-fingered discount for those scratching their heads) - arrrteest, 2008-04-25: 19:07:00
Stealing wasn't Bills problem - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-26: 19:05:00
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Imutate
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: im/myoo/tety
Sentence: Politicians often imutate their opponents in a debate to try to get the upper hand and throw off their rival's sleaze patterns.
Etymology: imitate (mimic,impersonate) + mutate (to change, alter as in phonetics to change by umlaut)
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COMMENTS:
excellent blend - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 09:22:00
Excellent variation and application of I-mutate with it phonetic, genetic and religion meaning. Ready for immediate inclusion in the dictionary. You have my vote. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-25: 18:39:00
Excellent! - Tigger, 2008-04-26: 13:37:00
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Malaproprietaryism
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: mala/pro/pry/i/tary/ism
Sentence: He was nicknamed the "Butcher of Cavil" because of his inappropriate malaproprietaryisms.
Etymology: malapropism (use of a word in mistake dor for one sounding similar) + proprietary (held in private ownership)
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COMMENTS:
Shazam! That's a mouthful. lol - Mustang, 2008-04-25: 07:35:00
It appears you saw right through the butcher's rouge. - stache, 2008-04-25: 08:12:00
Sorry, 'dotes. - stache, 2008-04-25: 08:12:00
OZZIEBOB - 2008-04-25: 18:41:00 Very formal political term. Love " The Butcher of Cavil." - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-25: 18:43:00
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Aproproliniator
Created by: frozenpeas42
Pronunciation: a-prop-ro-lin-iator
Sentence: I can't stand that bloody aproproliniator; he sounds like a broken record!
Etymology: to appropriate Lien
Malapropriate
Created by: Alchemist
Pronunciation: mal-uh-PRO-pree-ate
Sentence: Sensing an opening, McClain fixed his opponent with a glittering gaze. Overeager, he leaned over the podium and malapropriated the oft-misquoted Benson zinger, spouting, "You, sir, are no Dead Kennedy!"
Etymology: malaprop, appropriate
Euphemeism
Created by: Rutilus
Pronunciation: You-for-me-isum
Sentence: Clarissa knew that she could always rely on her rivals' phrases to give her the inspiration to steal them and their thunder by turning them into her own euphemeisms.
Etymology: Combination of 'euphemism' + 'me'
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COMMENTS:
neat - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 09:28:00
Just teaphetwoism and twopheteaism, mepheyouism and euphemeism alone... - Tigger, 2008-04-26: 13:20:00
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Plagiareyes
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: diss sin tax
Sentence: Hillary & Barack had verbally jousted in every state so far that they had been campaigning. They each had spies in the other's camp and would get a drift of the other's speech ideas before that speech was given. In this way, one could scoop the opponent's theme and words and leave the second presenter scrambling to come up with something else. Invariably, each would dysyntacks the other's words to the point that they made nonsensical rhetoric, which confused voters even more. Although guilty of it herself, Hillary decided to play Barack at his own game and threw the word dysyntacks into her next speech. She had the last laugh when Barack got up and announced a plan to eliminate the Dissin' Tax from the federal budget!
Etymology: Dysfunctional (failing to serve an adjustive or conducive to adjustment purpose) + Syntax (the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences) + Attacks ( take the initiative and go on the offensive) + Tax (make a charge against or accuse)
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COMMENTS:
I guess I cancelled the wrong word...Should read Dysyntacks, Oops! - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 01:11:00
Great punchline on your story though! - Tigger, 2008-04-25: 02:29:00
Betcha Hilary would talk about "sintax" when Bill's around! - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-26: 19:02:00
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Robscuranto
Created by: OZZIEBOB
Pronunciation: ruhb-skyoor-RAHN-to
Sentence: The robscuranto and gabyrinth of the late Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland premier from 1968 to 1987, famous for his unique mangling of the English language, was very effective in fobbing off journalists with irrelevant non-answers in a performance he called "feeding the chooks." Of two political opponents, he said: " You can push a 44-gallon drum of molasses up a hill easier than you can push those two fellas." Other bjelkisms, include: "If you fly with crows, look like the crows, you'll be shot with the crows" or something to that robscurantic effect.
Etymology: Blend of ROB: Steal, take, borrow; OBSCURE: to render or make difficult unclear, difficult to understand, unintelligible; (R)ANTO of Esperanto; and OBSCURANTO:the jargon and acronymese of large bodies, such as the UN. Indeed, many critics of Esperanto claimed that Zamenhof took perfectly good words from Latin, French, German and English and render them obscure and unrecognizable. Furthermore, it is often said, that he filled his language with unnecessary grammatical forms and confusing syntax.
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COMMENTS:
That's funnier than a one-legged well digger. - stache, 2008-04-25: 08:09:00
terrific word - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 09:24:00
G'Day, "You can't keep a good man down" from Muriel's Wedding! or "A life lived infear is a life half lived" from "Strictly Ballroom". Cheers, Mate! - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:20:00
On the topic of condoms Joh said "We don't want any of that sort of thing up here." in Queensland.
- petaj, 2008-04-26: 03:16:00
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Speechleech
Created by: verbherder
Pronunciation: speech-leech
Sentence: Don't worry if you can't think of an original answer. There's no need to recreate the tire. Just turn someone else's thought into a speechleech.
Etymology: speech (oral communication) + leech (a person who clings to another for personal gain, esp. without giving anything in return)
Snatchphrase
Created by: Tigger
Pronunciation: /snach-freyz/
Sentence: The press was up in arms over the latest speech from Sillory Flintskin, for using a catchphrase of her rival, Flack Odrama, and turning it into a snatchphrase by stealing it and slightly rearranging the words. She had changed it from "Change we can believe in" to "We can believe in change."
Etymology: Play on the word 'Catchphrase'; Snatch - to seize by a sudden or hasty grasp (from Middle Dutch, snacken "to snatch, chatter") + Phrase - a brief utterance or remark (from Greek, phrazein "to express, tell")
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COMMENTS:
is Flack Mel's brother? - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 14:02:00
Cheers, Tigger...this is just the primaries, can we face the rest of it?? - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:14:00
Clever!! - TJayzz, 2008-04-28: 04:31:00
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Comments:
OZZIEBOB - 2008-04-25: 18:41:00
Very formal political term. Love " The Butcher of Cavil."