Verboticism: Contratendant

'Our boss said I had to attend this meeting.'

DEFINITION: v. To arrive at a meeting completely unprepared and then work diligently and obviously to distract yourself from the proceedings. n. A person who attends a meeting but does not believe that they are paid enough to actually pay attention.

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Contratendant

Created by: doseydotes

Pronunciation: ˈkän-trə-ˈten-dənt

Sentence: Lars spent the entire meeting paging through the Wall Street Journal and humming absently to himself, to his son's 5th grade teacher's great consternation. "Mr. Beauregard!" she exclaimed, "I can't believe you would be such a contratendant to this parent-teacher conference!"

Etymology: From the Greek, contra, meaning an illegal association with a Middle-Eastern dictatorship; from the Kusumapura, ten, meaning "of brace-wearing age"; and from the Irish, dant, meaning, "shall not," or, literally, "dare not."

Points: 977

Comments: Contratendant

stache - 2008-03-24: 14:30:00
Your etymologies are always so very enlightening. Superlatively done. Keep up the good work!

OZZIEBOB - 2008-03-24: 19:50:00
Close to the mark!