Verboticism: Cacoffiny
DEFINITION: n. Strange sounds that keep you awake in the middle of the night. v. To lie in bed unable to sleep because you keep hearing weird sounds.
Voted For: Cacoffiny
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Insomniyack
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: in-som-nee-yak
Sentence: Tonight Joyce is an insomniac. Her boyfriend is having his weekly poker game with his buds. While they insomniyack in the other room she lays in bed, staring at the ceiling trying to not listen.
Etymology: insomniac (a person with an inability to sleep soundly) + yack (to talk, to chatter)
Audionocturn
Created by: pieceof314
Pronunciation: aw-dee-oh-nok-tern
Sentence: Jen stared at the spot on the wall directly above her head where the spider was half an hour ago. She became rigid each time she heard the creaking of the house as it contracted in the cool night air. The shades gently moved back and forth in the draft of the window sills. She was paralized by the audionocturnic noise that the old house emitted as the night wore on.
Etymology: audio, sound + nocturnal, of the night
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COMMENTS:
Have had nights like those... - Nosila, 2008-05-12: 19:24:00
Interesting! - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-13: 07:23:00
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Settlementalbreakdown
Created by: bookowl
Pronunciation: settle/mental/brake/down
Sentence: The persistent creaking as the house settled farther into the ground resulted in Mac suffering a settlementalbreakdown.
Etymology: settle + mental breakdown
Soundawake
Created by: TJayzz
Pronunciation: Sownd-a-wayk
Sentence: No wonder Mary was soundawake, it as all her own fault for hearing spooky noises in the middle of the night. She vowed never to watch horror films when she was alone ever again.
Etymology: Sound (Virbrations sensed by the ear) Awake (Not asleep, past-awoken) Opposite of sound asleep
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COMMENTS:
I liked this one. The only problem - if you don't immdiately catch the underlying connection to 'sound-asleep' it seems like an overly-simple response to the definition, (i.e. it may seem, at first, like you picked 2 words from the definition and stuck them together). Gets my vote though, for the clever double-meaning wordplay. - Tigger, 2008-05-13: 01:21:00
How true! Reminds me of a fairly recent film, "Eyes Wide Shut". Excellent word! - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-13: 07:19:00
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Creepualize
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: creep/oo/uh/eyes
Sentence: Lying awake in the middle of the night, sometimes my mind wanders and I creepualize myself into hysterics with any unusual sounds.
Etymology: creep oneself out + visualize
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COMMENTS:
Good one. - Mustang, 2009-06-25: 01:19:00
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Slumberrupt
Created by: Rutilus
Pronunciation: Slum-ber-rup-t
Sentence: The annoying drip drip drip of that loose tap had left Kelly slumberrupted for days. Was it really that difficult to find a decent plumber in this town?!
Etymology: Slumber - sleep; interrupt - to stop/delay
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COMMENTS:
Excellent! - Mustang, 2008-05-12: 23:09:00
Yep, good word! - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-13: 07:24:00
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Insomnoises
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: in som noy zes
Sentence: Morphea Wakemore had moved into her first new house recently. She loved the location, the layout and features of the new place. It was an older home, with a colorful past, but it gave her the character she wanted. Everything was perfect except for the insomnoises. She might drop off at her regular bedtime, but every night at 2:45 am the sounds started. Creepy, strange and eerie noises that kept her awake for the rest of the night. When she checked with her realtor, she was assured this was a common complaint in her new home town of Amityville.
Etymology: Insomnia (an inability to sleep; chronic sleeplessness)& Noises (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
Nighthowl
Created by: jrogan
Pronunciation: night-howl
Sentence: Jennifer couldn't sleep because of the nighthowls coming from her neighbour's bedroom window
Etymology: night+ howl
Dinsomnia
Created by: Tigger
Pronunciation: /din-SOM-nee-uh/
Sentence: Lying in bed and staring toward the ceiling, Michelle sighed again, kept awake by the dinsomnia that had plagued her every night this week. There were the 'creekity-creeks' that Jack had explained were just the roof beams contracting in the cooler evenings, the 'tick, tick, tick, hiss' of the hot water pipes, the faint 'thump, thump, thump' of the refrigerator in the kitchen, and the 'drip, drip' of the leaky bathroom faucet. But what on earth was that 'clankety, clank' noise that sounded like it was coming from the attic? It didn't fit in with the familiar nighttime rhythm, and Michelle winced every time she heard it.
Etymology: Din - sound with clamor or persistent repetition (from Old English, dyne "loud noise") + Insomnia - an inability to sleep; chronic sleeplessness (Latin, insomnia "want of sleep" from in- "not" + somnus "sleep")
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COMMENTS:
Great minds think alike...? Or is it fools seldom differ???? - Nosila, 2008-05-12: 02:13:00
So the saying goes, but to our mutual credit, I'd like to think that I'm a unique sort of fool. You decide. - Tigger, 2008-05-12: 02:37:00
had to give you a vote each in the interests of fairness. - galwaywegian, 2008-05-12: 12:00:00
Too kind, galwaywegian, thanks! - Nosila, 2008-05-12: 19:26:00
Clever blend! - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-13: 07:26:00
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