Verboticism: Malaproprietaryism

'Yes we can! Yes she can!'

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

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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

petaj 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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Aproproliniator

frozenpeas42

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

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Spielsteal

Created by: donlyn

Pronunciation:

Sentence: Ken and Boris were both spielsteal culprits so which ones speech was worth listening to.

Etymology:

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COMMENTS:

Good word. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-26: 18:55:00

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Vernaculagiarize

Created by: stache

Pronunciation: vər-nāk'yə-lā'jə-rīz'

Sentence: Madge could have predicted that when Melvin got off the phone with his Texas Oilman client his speech would be different. "Whatch'yall a fixin'?" he vernaculagiarized. "Dahling, please. Knock it off," Madge pleaded, as the gefilte fish simmered. "Whah, ah don't know what'cher tahkin' abayat," he responded. For a Jew from Passaic, New Jersey, he sounded decidedly cowboy, all of a sudden.

Etymology: 'Vern,' off-camera foil of the late spokesperson Jim Varney's character, Ernest P. Worrell; 'acula,' from Dr. Acula, grindcore band from Long Island, NY; 'Gia,' after Gia Carangi, top fashion model, late 1970's; 'rize,' var. of rise, to ascend. Alternately, to plagiarize one's vernacular.

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COMMENTS:

Poor Earnest. The world still mourns his loss, I'm sure... don't they? - Tigger, 2008-04-25: 02:43:00

I sprained my tongue just saying vernaculargiarize. It was still fun. Good word. - Mustang, 2008-04-25: 07:25:00

Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who spoke with a stuttering surfeit of ums and ahs, would have a lot of trouble pronouncing this one. Your comment about the "one-legged well digger" brings to mind another of his favorite quips : "Ah, ah, the problem with you, you, you, is that you got one foot on sticky, sticky paper and ya other on the f-ffence." Luv your word, blends nicely. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-25: 18:31:00

Who Knew?? Talk amongst yourselves, I'll give you a topic. No Big Whoop! "If Russia invaded Turkey from the rear, would Greece help???" Discuss. (From Linda Richman, SNL, "Coffee Talks" skits with Mike Meyer. - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:24:00

petaj I like verbacusmalliarize. Err was that a vernaculargiarizism? - petaj, 2008-04-26: 03:17:00

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Purloinguism

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: purr-loin-gwism

Sentence: Connor had taken neurolinguistic programming one step too far. His affirmations were now littered with purloinguisms developed from his brothers cool way of rapping, and instead of talking himself into a new job as a motivational speaker, his career had taken a tangential path into the hip hop scene.

Etymology: purloin (the practise of stealing knitting patterns) linguistics (a new variation of rap where nothing rhymes) ism (a handy suffix)

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Plagiorate

Created by: Raquelle

Pronunciation: Play-jor-ate

Sentence: The oratory competition would be a breeze, thought Michelle, what with her recent discovery of the online archive of speech transcripts. She would simply choose a published one, plagiorate it to suit her topic and present with utmost confidence.

Etymology: Plagiarism + Orate = to plagiarise one's oration

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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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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)

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Lukon

Created by: emil7

Pronunciation: luke on

Sentence: i want to have some fun. lets play lukon

Etymology:

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Malopt

Created by: ErWenn

Pronunciation: /ˌmælˈɒpt/

Sentence: The English and Japanese languages have a long history of malopting each other's words.

Etymology: from mal- + opt (as in badly co-opt)

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