Verboticism: Termbezzle

'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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Snatchphrase

Created by: Tigger

Pronunciation: /snach-freyz/

Sentence: The press was up in arms over the latest speech from Sillory Flintskin, for using a catchphrase of her rival, Flack Odrama, and turning it into a snatchphrase by stealing it and slightly rearranging the words. She had changed it from "Change we can believe in" to "We can believe in change."

Etymology: Play on the word 'Catchphrase'; Snatch - to seize by a sudden or hasty grasp (from Middle Dutch, snacken "to snatch, chatter") + Phrase - a brief utterance or remark (from Greek, phrazein "to express, tell")

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COMMENTS:

is Flack Mel's brother? - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 14:02:00

Cheers, Tigger...this is just the primaries, can we face the rest of it?? - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:14:00

Clever!! - TJayzz, 2008-04-28: 04:31:00

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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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Euphemeism

Created by: Rutilus

Pronunciation: You-for-me-isum

Sentence: Clarissa knew that she could always rely on her rivals' phrases to give her the inspiration to steal them and their thunder by turning them into her own euphemeisms.

Etymology: Combination of 'euphemism' + 'me'

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COMMENTS:

neat - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 09:28:00

Just teaphetwoism and twopheteaism, mepheyouism and euphemeism alone... - Tigger, 2008-04-26: 13:20:00

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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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Replistate

Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: REP - li - stait

Sentence: When Angeline would hear an opinon or a phrase she admired she would shamelessly replistate it in conversations with others and would try to give the impression that it was an original representation.

Etymology: Blend of state and replicate.

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COMMENTS:

clever - Jabberwocky, 2008-04-25: 09:26:00

Let's face it, the primaries go by one replistate after another...Cheers, Mustang - Nosila, 2008-04-25: 22:16:00

Ohh, good one. - Tigger, 2008-04-26: 13:24:00

Nice word. - OZZIEBOB, 2008-04-26: 18:54:00

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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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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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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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Echotheft

Created by: rebelvin

Pronunciation: echo+theft

Sentence: Time and again, all he did was echothieve, appropriating ideas from others at the meeting, offering no ideas of his own.

Etymology: echo+theft

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Malapropriate

Created by: Alchemist

Pronunciation: mal-uh-PRO-pree-ate

Sentence: Sensing an opening, McClain fixed his opponent with a glittering gaze. Overeager, he leaned over the podium and malapropriated the oft-misquoted Benson zinger, spouting, "You, sir, are no Dead Kennedy!"

Etymology: malaprop, appropriate

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