Verboticism: Braintweezer

'My wheelbarrow needs a seat...'

DEFINITION: v. To ask a someone a bizarre question in order to get them to think outside their mental little boxes. (And to see if they are actually listening.) n. A creative provocation designed to pull people out of their daily stupor.

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Prodvoke

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: prädvōk

Sentence: During his weekly meetings with his staff, Larry loved to prodvoke people to think outside the box. As he was being fired, he was reminded he worked for a packaging company and that people are paid to think INSIDE the box.

Etymology: prod (an act of stimulating or reminding someone to do something) + provoke (stimulate or incite)

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COMMENTS:

carton me, but a good story! - Nosila, 2010-09-22: 18:03:00

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Flabberquest

Created by: Banky

Pronunciation: Flahb-burr-qwehst

Sentence: The Introduction to Vatican Law class gasped audibly as it read the first flabberquest on the exam. Father Malkinson reclined in his chair, satisfied that his students were not only now awake enough to take the exam, but that no one would get the question right, as the Pope had never even vacationed in the woods.

Etymology: (flabbergast - gast) + (question - ion)

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COMMENTS:

wonderful - Jabberwocky, 2009-03-11: 10:39:00

Wow! :-) - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:43:00

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Quizarre

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: kwiz-zahr

Sentence: Just to shake up her "gotta-have-the right-answer" students, the teacher gave her class a test that had nothing to do with the course of study. The teacher found it amusing. The students found it quizarre.

Etymology: quiz (an informal test or examination of a student or class) + bizarre (markedly unusual in appearance, style, or general character and often involving incongruous or unexpected elements; outrageously or whimsically strange)

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Zenquiry

Created by: bookowl

Pronunciation: zen-kwire/ee

Sentence: A zenquiry requires complete silence and meditation. The questions are open to interpretation and often surprising.

Etymology: zen + enquiry

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Idiokcrazy

Created by: abrakadeborah

Pronunciation: Id-e-o-ock-cra-zee

Sentence: Darlene went to the service station to get them to check the water level in her 1977 VW beetle radiator. As she asked Joe the service station mechanic to do this...Joe could not believe the "idiokcrazy" of the car owner not knowing there was no radiator on that car! Joe just rolled his eyes in an "idiokcraziedly" way. Darlene laughed because she knew her car had no radiator... Then,her husband Dan went into the hardware store and asked a clerk an "idiokcrazy" question about the seats on his wheelbarrow (that he really only needed a new wheel for). The clerk amused Dan then continued on to ask Dan if he wanted a leather or cloth seat?

Etymology: Idio- from the word idiot ; DUMB k ; ok Crazy ; out of their mind. To think someone is not only crazy but also an idiot... :)~

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Freaquest

Created by: galwaywegian

Pronunciation: free kwest

Sentence: She was very pretty, but complying with her freaquest would have involved a misdemeanor, two felonies and at least four visits to a chiropractor

Etymology: request, freak

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COMMENTS:

that must have been one freaky question - Jabberwocky, 2009-03-11: 11:23:00

very freakgestive - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:46:00

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Awakercise

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: əwākərsīz

Sentence: Tony had trouble getting up in the morning until he discovered Verbotomy. Now he uses it as his awakercise to get his muddled gray matter out of its nocturnal vegetative state.

Etymology: awake (stop sleeping; wake from sleep) + exercise (a task or activity done to practice or test a skill)

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COMMENTS:

zzzzzzz..Huh? - wayoffcenter, 2009-03-11: 08:23:00

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Enigmachination

Created by: Jabberwocky

Pronunciation: en/ig/mak/in/ay/shun

Sentence: The professor liked to jolt the students into clearer thought by beginning each class with an enigmachination.

Etymology: enigma + machination (trick, ruse)

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COMMENTS:

Terrific idea===== Great idea and word - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:29:00

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Yeastinflection

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: yeest-in-fleckt-shun

Sentence: Juanita had a very 'bubbly' personality and a bit of an off-the-wall skew on life in general and she often tried to get a 'rise' out of people by putting a bit of a yeastinflection in her approach and would ask seemingly pointless questions in order to goad her companions into making responses to what were sometimes very personal matters.

Etymology: 'yeast' (1.A microscopic fungus) and 'inflection' (1.A change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person), and a play on words on 'yeast infection'.

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Evoqunotion

Created by: kateinkorea

Pronunciation: ee VOKE que NO sheun

Sentence: Several times a year Dr. Miller would lay an evoqunotion on us, to get us to think outside the box. He would suddenly ask us a question that seemed very complicated and difficult, or even impossible. Usually the solution was to look for another way of interpreting the question. Of course he always used the classic ‘nine-dot’ creativity puzzle at some point in the semester-the originator of the thinking outside the box concept. Initially the students would stress over these questions for days, but near the end of the semester the students were waiting with bated breath for the next one to come out.

Etymology: EVOKE: prompt, spur QUERY: question NOTION: idea EVOLUTION: change over time

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COMMENTS:

what a foxy outboxy creative sentence. - silveryaspen, 2009-03-11: 21:41:00

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