Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To try to kill a weed that just won't die. n. A weed that just keeps on coming back, no matter what you do to it.
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.
Rhizomemania
Created by: abrakadeborah
Pronunciation: rhi-zome-ma-ni-a
Sentence: Harrietta and Henry would landscape and work all weekend long on their lawn... pulling,shoveling,whacking fiercely attacking weeds like a "rhizomemania" on a killing mission! Henry sprayed as she prayed gouging and digging with a razor edged spade. Thinking they had finally gotten rid of all of the weeds...Only to find out the next weekend all the weeds had come back! Harrietta had an attack of "rhizomemania" as she crawled in the grass jerking weeds from all over the yard! They had multiplied, Henry, she shouted! "stop what you are planting please and hurry real fast JUST LOOK the weeds are growing faster than we can pull them up they are taking over our yard!" So, Henry came running with the weed eater in tow, to appease poor ol' Harrietta. She was hysterical and just could not understand how these bothersome weeds grew so fast? Little did she know...Henry returned to his planting in the back yard planting variegated ivy,kudzu and bamboo which he thought was ideal for around the pool...
Etymology: Rhizome:A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots. Mania:An excessively intense enthusiasm, interest, or desire; a craze;madness
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COMMENTS:
I love the word "rhizome".Run with it, baby! - metrohumanx, 2009-04-20: 01:06:00
Unique etymology! - silveryaspen, 2009-04-20: 10:00:00
Thank you dears xoxo Deb :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-04-20: 18:03:00
I think you meant Wry-zomemania! I'm rooting for you! - Nosila, 2009-04-20: 22:10:00
Wry thank you Nosila! for rooting for my twisted rhizomemaniaical rhapsody :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-04-22: 05:34:00
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Bilkweed
Created by: splendiction
Pronunciation: rhymes with milkweed
Sentence: Henry knew the weedwacker definitely wasn't the answer to their recurring weeds. He wondered which herbicide he would next try. Maybe he'd just dig out the whole garden and start again? Hmmm. Those bilkweeds!
Etymology: From BILK, to frustrate and MILKWEED. Bilkweeds cause constant frustration because they manage to resist removal.
Eradicaint
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: ee-RAD-ehck-aynt
Sentence: Over the course of the growing season Livonia had tried all kinds of chemicals, digging, chopping, lawn mower, and with her latest effort of pouring charcoal starter fluid and lighting it, she was distressed to find that this too was one more eradicaint when she saw the plant flourishing a couple days later.
Etymology: Blend of 'eradicate' (eliminate, dispose of, wipe out) and 'aint' (is not)
Defolihaternal
Created by: metrohumanx
Pronunciation: dee-fole-ee-HATE-err-null
Sentence: His lawn was a crop, so smooth and compliant- but marred by a dandelion so defiant! He doused it with poison and dug up the roots- tried stomping it out with his hobnail boots. His hatred it grew- and became quite diurnal- It doomed him to try to DEFOLIATERNAL. In dreams it would flourish, in truth it’s quite sad- That one odd little weed made a sane man go mad.
Etymology: DEFOLIate+HATe+etERNAL=DEFOLIHATERNAL.....DEFOLIATE:to deprive of leaves especially prematurely; Late Latin defoliatus, past participle of defoliare, from Latin de- + folium leaf[1791].....HATE: intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury, extreme dislike or antipathy; Middle English, from Old English hete; akin to Old High German haz hate, Greek kēdos care.....ETERNAL: perpetual, having infinite duration, everlasting; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin aeternalis, from Latin aeternus eternal, from aevum age, eternity.
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COMMENTS:
DIURNAL: recurring every day; Middle English, from Latin diurnalis. - metrohumanx, 2009-04-20: 00:51:00
A fun rhyme with verbotomy whose ending might be said to be an earn-all! (ernal). - silveryaspen, 2009-04-20: 09:59:00
LOL! You crack me up Metro!!! Great one! - abrakadeborah, 2009-04-20: 18:10:00
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Deeterminate
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: dee ter min ayt
Sentence: When Stella realized that the dandelions were not so dandy and the crabgrass was very crabby,she decided to act. Because these weeds allowed pesky bugs to dwell, she decided to deeterminate their existance. Sure for the first few weeks,it was a Garden of Eden, but then all the weeds and bugs returned, like bad boomerangs.
Etymology: DEET (anagram for diethyl(meta)toluamidef, a bug/weed killer) & Terminate (to kill, end) and WordPlay on Determine (shape or influence)
Zombeanstalk
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: zämbēnstôk
Sentence: Zack planted some beans that he was told were magic. Little did he know how true that was. Once planted they could not be stopped. After harvesting a few nasty tasting beans he decided to plant tomatoes so he turned over the soil and put in a few nice plants. The next day he found the uprooted ”mater” plants plastered against the shed as if flung by some unseen hand and the zombeanstalk standing in their place. Thus began a summer of battle to reclaim the garden. Pesticides, herbicides, even hoes and machetes were no match for this evil thing. Every assault just seemed to make it stronger. The onset of Winter finally brought Zack the relief he sought. He is now desperately trying to sell his house so that he can be gone by the Spring thaw.
Etymology: zombie (a soulless corpse said to be revived by witchcraft) + beanstalk (the stem of a bean plant, proverbially fast growing and tall)
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COMMENTS:
love it! - galwaywegian, 2010-11-02: 16:06:00
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Sasquash
Created by: karenanne
Pronunciation: SAS kwosh
Sentence: Cala had spent many weeks the previous year getting rid of all the different kinds of squash that had grown in her garden. She had made pickles, disguised it in zucchini bread, roasted pumpkin seeds, and cut 20 jack-o-lanterns. She had even simply put some of it in bags which she then dropped off on random doorsteps on her way to work, knowing that her own neighbors would recognize her handiwork. And now it had all returned full force in a spectacularly scary regrowth, with even bigger plants than last year, like Sasquash. Calabashed her head against the wall with the frustration. "Oh my gourd!" she now cried. "It's just not cutecumber any more. It's spaghetting worse every year!" Butternutty ways will have her replanting next summer.
Etymology: Sasquatch + squash
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COMMENTS:
Love it! Your puns are like mine...not for the marrow-minded! - Nosila, 2010-11-02: 22:21:00
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Surrhounded
Created by: silveryaspen
Pronunciation: sir hound ed
Sentence: Giant Dandy Lions, roared with life, all around Poison Ivy, blocking her sun and drinking up all her water. nearly strangling her and every thing else! Her husband, O. D. Stickers, tried beating them back with his thorny limbs, and was everblasting them with Weed-Be-Gone. Alas and Alack, they just grew right back ... the li-on-and-ons remained kings of the jungle! Like hope springing eternally, Dandy Lions were springing back up ... infernally. O. D. Stickers and Poison Ivy would forever be surrhounded by Dandy Lions!
Etymology: SURROUND, HOUNDED. Surround - occupy the space all around. Hounded - pestered in a persistent, constant, ceaseless manner.
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COMMENTS:
Silvery realy good word! We're all FUNNY Poets very Entertaining! :) - abrakadeborah, 2009-04-20: 18:13:00
It's like they are lion dancing, those Lion Kings! - Nosila, 2009-04-20: 22:14:00
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Audreytwonacious
Created by: readerwriter
Pronunciation: Aw-dree-twoo-nay-shuhs
Sentence: Lil Seymour cried out for her husband's help. They were coming after her, those audreytwonacious dandylions, elephant ears, tigerlilies, zebra grass and spider plants!
Etymology: Using AUDREY II, the man-eating plant of "Little Shop of Horrors" fame + TENACIOUS, meaning holding firmly, stubbornly. Sometimes also spelled AudreyIInacious
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COMMENTS:
Great word! - splendiction, 2009-04-20: 21:25:00
It's cute and Oddry,too! - Nosila, 2009-04-20: 22:20:00
I love your etymology and word very nice:) - abrakadeborah, 2009-04-22: 06:24:00
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Pestaside
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: pest a syde
Sentence: No matter what she tried, Flora could not rid her yard of crab grass. It grew in her lawn. her flower beds, under trees and in between cracks in the cement. She had tried every chemical she could find to eliminate it.But nothing worked.In her mind, the pesticides just became pestasides, because the weeds came back somewhere else. She decided to use reverse psychology. If she planted crab grass on purpose, maybe her lawn and flowers would become the pests and grow in it's place! No wonder they called it crab grass...it makes you a crab trying to eliminate it!
Etymology: Pest (crab grass:grasses with creeping stems that root freely; a pest (nuisance) in lawns)& Aside (in a different direction)
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by silveryaspen. Thank you silveryaspen. ~ James
abrakadeborah - 2009-04-20: 00:24:00
Silvery is BRILLIANT :)~ Love the cartoon also :)
splendiction - 2009-04-20: 21:35:00
Yes I wish I had more than two votes to cast today!
Thank you abrakadeborah and Silvery! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by silveryaspen. Thank you silveryaspen. ~ James