Verboticism: Festilence

'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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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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Infirtration

karenanne

Created by: karenanne

Pronunciation: in fur TRAY shun

Sentence: The infirtration usually starts in mid-December, right after we put up the tree, when we really start to feel them underfoot. By Christmas Eve, they have become really insistent and prickly, and by the day after Christmas, we are ready to throw the whole mess out and just call it a season. But it seems that when cleanup time comes, we don't have many of them around needling us. New Year's Eve seems to bring some of the infirtrators back out of the woodwork, but a little eggnog (spiked) helps numb a lot of the irritation. What's that you say? No, no, not the bits from the tree; it's artificial - I'm talking about the pesky and kvetching relatives!

Etymology: infiltration + fir

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COMMENTS:

firtatious word! - Nosila, 2009-12-22: 01:12:00

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Brundy

walkawave

Created by: walkawave

Pronunciation:

Sentence:

Etymology:

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Coniferocious

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: cone iffer oshus

Sentence: Douglas Fir was a mild-mannered sap. His bark was certainly worse than his bite. He ran a Branch Office for his company and struggled to maintain profitability. Out of frustration, he ran for local politics and was elected. He was a coniferocious campaigner. People always used him to get votes and persuade the policymakers, but Doug would have no such influence. He just wanted to be the town Christmas Tree and light up peoples' lives. The only problem he had was that he shed a few thousand needles a day and when Christmas was finally over, he was a stick with lights on him. Needleless to say, his detractors who were larchly the undeciduous voters,would plant false stories about him in the cyPress. Despite what they said, he campaigned for the EverGreen Party. He was a tree Fir the People!

Etymology: conifer ( any gymnospermous tree or shrub bearing cones) & ferocious (marked by extreme and violent energy)

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COMMENTS:

metrohumanx Tree-mendous avalanche of chuckles, N! - metrohumanx, 2008-12-18: 17:39:00

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Porcupinetree

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: pôrkyəpīntrē

Sentence: Why is it that the needles from the porcupinetree seem to actively burrow into the carpet like so many quill moles.

Etymology: porcupine (a large rodent with defensive spines or quills on the body and tail) pine tree (an evergreen coniferous tree that has clusters of long needle-shaped leaves)

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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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Firiends

Created by: mweinmann

Pronunciation: fir - ee - ends

Sentence: It had been a wonderful holiday season. Sidney was thinking back to the parties, gifts and good cheer, as he took down the tree. As usual, there were needles all over the carpet. They had begun to feel like old, familiar firiends, he thought. Many of the needles would remain woven in and under the rug for years, along with the holiday guests who had fallen and disappeared there as well.

Etymology: This word is a combination of several... Fir (Species of evergreen conifer) + Friends (people you know well and regard with affection and trust) + ends (needles are the "ends" of the tree, and the holiday season has ended.

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COMMENTS:

So a thick coat of needles onm the rug would be a fir coat? Great Word...as soon as I saw it I heard the theme from"Friends" in my head...and now I cannot get it to go away! - Nosila, 2008-12-18: 20:43:00

And the furry ends are what remains. - dochanne, 2008-12-18: 22:08:00

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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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Ofirun

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: oaf fir run

Sentence: Although they love the smell of a real tree and get one every Christmas, by the end of the holidays, George & Mary are ofirun with needles. It seems to take most of the next year to finally get them gone. That is about as long as it takes to get rid of all the unwanted relatives who delight in surprising them with unexpected visits!

Etymology: Overrun (infested with;invaded by) & Fir (a coniferous evergreen, popular as a Christmas Tree.

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