Vote for the best verboticism.

'When I said that you're a loser, I meant it as a compliment.'

DEFINITION: v. To exercise power through the strategic use of personal insults, while pretending to offer encouragement. n. A leader who motivates people by insulting them.

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Verboticisms

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Condemnagog

Created by: purpleartichokes

Pronunciation: kun-dem-ah-gog

Sentence: At the meeting, we counted six insults proffered by Frank, the condemnagog, including one subtle double-slam on the presenter's mentor.

Etymology: condemn, demagog

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COMMENTS:

How appropriate. This actually happened yesterday. - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-12: 05:20:00

wasn't magog a god of war as well? Even moooore appropriate. - galwaywegian, 2007-06-12: 06:24:00

petaj He went presentimental over the attack on his advisor. - petaj, 2007-06-12: 07:54:00

Love it! Really splendid. - Clayton, 2007-06-12: 08:30:00

Excellent! - ErWenn, 2007-06-13: 00:35:00

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Obsucinsult

Created by: texmom

Pronunciation: Ob shew ur in sult

Sentence: After that obscurinsult she didn't know whether to thank her boss or cry

Etymology: obscure + insult Yes, I misspelled it and can't go back

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COMMENTS:

I meant it to be obscurinsult... but maybe... I should just leave it like it is. - texmom, 2007-06-12: 07:23:00

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Motihate

Created by: Rhyme79

Pronunciation: mow-tee-hate

Sentence: I like to motihate Busby by calling his work horrendous and his hair style effeminate.

Etymology: A play on motivate.

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Pepsquawk

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: pepskwôk

Sentence: Week after week the manager would deliver a pepsqualk to her staff. Her crew’s response has been to adopt a hedgehog as a mascot. They told her that a hedgehog is an industrious critter that will ”dig in” and defend its home. The fact is that the picture they posted for motivation is actually a shrew.

Etymology: pep talk (a talk intended to make someone feel more courageous or enthusiastic) + squawk (make a loud, harsh noise)

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Ensluragement

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: en-slur-age-ment

Sentence: Margot was always ready to give ensluragement whenever someone got above their raisin by thinking they could do her job as well as she did. That way she could eliminate the competition and still sound like she was trying to help her underlings.

Etymology: encouragement: to inspire hope, courage or confidence + slur: to talk about disparagingly or insultingly; to cast a disparaging remark

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COMMENTS:

artr It takes slurrage to stand up to your subordinates. - artr, 2010-01-06: 09:20:00

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Dumotivation

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: duhm-oh-tuh-vey-shuhn

Sentence: Lucy thought she could use dumotivation to get her staff going. If she acted like they were stupid, they would strive to prove her wrong. A good number of her employees showed just how smart they were by finding new jobs where they were treated with respect.

Etymology: dumb (lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted) + motivation (inspiration, inducement)

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Hellnotivate

Created by: Katisms1

Pronunciation: hell-NO!-tive-ate

Sentence: Maintaining his hard-won reputation as a total S.O.B., the department manager would sneeringly "hellnotivate" his sales team into action with an endless stream of backhanded compliments.

Etymology: "(Oh) hell, no!" [Indignant reaction to the realization that the compliment one thought one just received was actually an insult.] + motivate

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Lambastard

Created by: galwaywegian

Pronunciation: lamm bass tarrred

Sentence: He had the smile of an angel as he chaired the weekly meetings, but as the new recruit Ida Lovett was to discover, beneath the smarmy exterior, he was a complete and utter lambastard!

Etymology: lambast, to loudly criticise, bastard

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COMMENTS:

petaj He was much worse after a few glasses of Italian red wine. Then he was lambrusqueo - petaj, 2007-06-12: 07:52:00

petaj Also a wolf in sheep's clothing? - petaj, 2007-06-12: 08:02:00

Damn, I didn't see yours before I posted mine. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Good word there, too. - Clayton, 2007-06-12: 08:27:00

And the ignoramus who put BBQ sauce on the mutton chops. - purpleartichokes, 2007-06-12: 08:31:00

Hahaha! "Lamb baster." Incidentally, the Basters of Namibia get their name from the Dutch word for "bastard." - Clayton, 2007-06-12: 09:05:00

Maybe he had the smile of an angel because he was really 'Tiny Tim' in disguise and he was a lamebastard as well as a lambastard - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-12: 10:44:00

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Unspiratarian

Created by: jadenguy

Pronunciation: un spire a terian

Sentence: On the high seas, it was often that Horatio asked himself what his greater destiny was, his raison d’etre. The captain always told him that he wasn't as dumb as he looked, that the only good decision he'd ever made was to find himself a place onboard because the real world would eat him alive, that keeping storage room clean was one thing even he couldn't screw up, that at least he had more facial hair than his wife, but not much. This unspiritarian had all but destroyed the ferocity of crew, but Horatio continued to believe that this was where he needed to be, that great things were going to happen. Few and far between have there been greater moments of forsight.

Etymology: un + inspire + totalitarian

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COMMENTS:

wow, that was a long'un. - jadenguy, 2007-06-12: 09:57:00

perhaps he should have become a unspirational unmotivational speaker - Jabberwocky, 2007-06-12: 12:01:00

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Mortfortify

Created by: porsche

Pronunciation: mort/fort/i/fye

Sentence: The sales manager managed to mortfortify his team on a daily basis. He told them they were all stars, outperforming last years numbers to such a degree that he would hire more staff and thus reduce their bonuses

Etymology: mortify + fortify

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-06-12: 01:52:00
The second step in Timothy Johnson's GUST process is Understanding. And apparently, based on the number of definitions we received on this topic, everybody understands what it is like to have a bad boss. Today's definition was suggested by ohwtepph , suzanne, and remistram. Thank you ohwtepph, suzanne, remistram, and Timothy! ~ James

lumina - 2008-08-07: 13:49:00
Wow! So fun and an honor to have come up with the "winning" word. "I'd like to thank the Academy, my parents and of course Jesus." ha Thanks to the voters! (she says as the music starts playing and the tap dancing man with the hook from the gong show comes into view...)

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2010-01-06: 00:05:00
Today's definition was suggested by ohwtepph. Thank you ohwtepph. ~ James