Verboticism: Needlenettle

'Why are you vacuuming the Christmas tree?'

DEFINITION: n., 1. A pine needle infestation, common during and after the holiday season. 2. Prickly Christmas guests who will not leave and cannot be cleaned up. v., To fall down during a holiday party and hide under a rug.

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Needlenettle

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Needlepeedle

Created by: nicky

Pronunciation:

Sentence: Needlepeedle happens all over the house unless you give the Christmas tree a good shake before taking it out to the brush pile

Etymology: needle, pee

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Yulegibbons

Created by: jmotsch

Pronunciation: Yewl gibbins

Sentence: Janice had been fervently combating the yulegibbons since January.

Etymology:

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Barbedlier

Carla

Created by: Carla

Pronunciation: barbd-lie-uh

Sentence: 'Beware the barbedlier on the sofa', Marge whispered to her husband as she passed him in the doorway. 'Your friend Tom had to stay for a week the last time he was this sozzled'.

Etymology: barbed wire + lier (one who lies down)

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Efirafter

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: ef ir af ter

Sentence: Once upon a time there was a prince and princess who made the mistake of getting a real tree on their first Christmas together. One of the things that keeps them together still is finding and vacuuming tree needles,all year long, happily efirafter.

Etymology: Everafter (from now on, to eternity) & Fir (any of various evergreen trees)

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Pinestilence

Created by: Stevenson0

Pronunciation: pine/stil/ence

Sentence: The pinestilence invades our home every Christmas season and takes months to rid the house of this dreaded needle.

Etymology: pine + pestilence

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Pernoydles

metrohumanx

Created by: metrohumanx

Pronunciation: PURR-noy-dulls

Sentence: Barbara O'Reilly and Keith attempted to remove the PERNOYDLES which spread thru the house like invasive Zebra Mussels, crowding out the native dustballs. Each holiday season, the PERNOYDLES from down the street always stayed until the last dregs of mead were consumed, and the last tasteless limerick recited. During the evening, one guest got a severe attack of the PERNOYDLES and couldn't be located for hours. Last year, we had to drag them out of the sewers and send a few home by taxicab. PERNOYDLES - a must to avoid.

Etymology: PERsistent+anNOY+neeDLES=PERNOYDLES....PERSISTENT:existing for a long or longer than usual holiday time or continuously,retained beyond the usual jolly period,degraded only slowly by the environment;Latin persistent-, persistens, present participle of persistere.....ANNOY:to disturb or irritate especially by repeated pseudo-festive acts or remarks,Middle English anoien, from Anglo-French anuier, ennoier, from Late Latin inodiare to make loathsome, from Latin in + odium hatred .....NEEDLES: a needle-shaped leaf,a slender pointed object resembling a needle,to harass or mock cruelly, to intentionally irritate ;Middle English nedle, from Old English nǣdl; akin to Old High German nādala needle, nājan to sew, Latin nēre to spin, Greek nēn.

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COMMENTS:

Linguistically detailed and PERcise. A PERleasure to PERuse! - dochanne, 2008-12-18: 01:35:00

OH HO! Nice etymology. Pernod (liquor) and needles was what first came to mind. - silveryaspen, 2008-12-18: 02:48:00

metrohumanx Thank you. An absinthesis from the wee hours of the morning. :) - metrohumanx, 2008-12-18: 17:32:00

metrohumanx If you want to REALLY laugh, check out the toys at goblertoys.com: - metrohumanx, 2008-12-18: 17:59:00

metrohumanx http://goblertoys.com/ - metrohumanx, 2008-12-18: 18:00:00

Crowding out the native dustballs, how pernicious! PERfect! - Nosila, 2008-12-18: 20:38:00

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Permaneedle

Created by: remistram

Pronunciation: purm-ah-need-ul

Sentence: With all the permaneedles she discovered under the rug in July, she collected them and made miniature Christmas trees and kept them until next Christmas to give to her over-staying-their-welcome guests.

Etymology: permanent (everlasting, perpetual) + needle (from the pine or fir tree, and also to prod or tease)

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Conifirmentation

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: kon if fer men tay shun

Sentence: It started the moment the Christmas Tree and the In-laws had arrived at the same time, a week before Christmas. The conifirmentation process. Tree needles everywhere and verbal needles about the food, the decor, the drinks, the gift choices, etc. At least the fir needles knew when to depart the host branch, unlike the In-laws, who thought that all could benefit from their "suggestions" and constructive criticism. "Next Year", she said to her husband, "We buy the air tickets for them and make sure that they are only here for a few days, not the current one month long visit!" Houseguests, as they say, are like fish...after a few days they start to smell.

Etymology: Conifer (any gymnospermous tree or shrub bearing cones) & Fir (any of various evergreen trees of the genus Abies; often used for Christmas Trees) & Fermentation ( a process in which an agent causes an organic substance to break down into simpler substances; especially, the anaerobic breakdown of sugar into alcohol;be in an agitated or excited state;go sour or spoil)

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Pinfest

Created by: spickaspanner

Pronunciation: Pin-fest

Sentence: Quick we need to get rid of the christmas tree before we get a pinfest!

Etymology:

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Scrourge

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: scru/urj

Sentence: Bah humbug! Stepping on pine needles from Christmas past, present and future is the scrourge of Christmas.

Etymology: scrourge + scrooge

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