Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To have difficulty recognizing, and correctly interpreting, human facial expressions. n. A person who cannot read faces.
Verboticisms
Click on each verboticism to read the sentences created by the Verbotomy writers, and to see your voting options...
You have two votes. Click on the words to read the details, then vote your favorite.
Expressimiss
Created by: Maureen
Pronunciation: ex-press-e-miss
Sentence: Expressimiss was her forte, so Mandy was constantly surprised by the mixed reactions she received when she mistook sneering for smiling and vice versa.
Etymology: Expressi- from expression and miss - fail to perceive.
Impearance
Created by: ziggy41
Pronunciation: im-PAIR-ence
Sentence: Her impearance led me to believe she was a psychopath on the verge of killing me... it turned out that she loved me.
Etymology: Impair (difficulty) + appearance (expression)
Visagenius
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: vis a jeen ee us
Sentence: Jerome thought he was such a visagenious when it came to reading the faces of young ladies he fancied. He could not have been more wrong. He always misinterpreted a "yikes" look as enthusiasm. Which explains why he never has a date...
Etymology: Visage (face;countenance) & Genius (unusual mental ability;a natural talent)
Mienblind
Created by: OZZIEBOB
Pronunciation: MEEN-blahynd
Sentence: Roxie was certain that she had found the fountain of youth (or, perhaps, just Dani Minogue's Beauty Guide) when she came across an advert featuring the "Prosopial Pill," a startling, C21th make-over breakthrough, whereby one could look just look like he or she wanted to: having any skin, eye, or hair colour, and facial expressions, by simply taking this pill. Bob, upon hearing all this, became deeply concerned with the prospect of Roxie frequently changing her appearance, wondering whether he would be able, in future, to read her prosopialities. Seeking help, he immediately began flicking through "The Dictionary of Verbotomy" and for a while little interested him, and was about to put the book down when one word arrested his eyes: the word Mienblind.
Etymology: MIEN: facial expression, demeanour, bearing, appearance,aspect; air; manner; carriage; bearing or manner, especially as it reveals an inner state of mind & BLIND: unwilling or unable to perceive or understand; not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or judge. PROSOPIAL: From Gk, Prosop meaning face & PILL.
Visagegoth
Created by: porsche
Pronunciation: viz/aj/gahth
Sentence: Jack was a noted visagegoth who had the manners to match his multiple faux pas
Etymology: visigoth + visage
Misguise
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: miss/guys
Sentence: He would always misguise the apprehensive looks on co-workers faces and consequently talk to his boss when it was an inappropriate time
Etymology: miss + guise
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
Can also be used as a noun. My boss wears a misguise every day. He always looks like he's smiling, even when he's pissed off. - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 08:55:00
Great word because most guys miss these signals! - Stevenson0, 2007-05-09: 12:31:00
----------------------------
Misinterprefacetion
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: mis-in-ter-pre-face-tion
Sentence: Jase was the king of misinterprefacetion, especially when it came to women. One day he thought he saw a "come hither" look on Miss Muffet's face and thought he might get lucky. In reality it was a look of horror because of a spider that sat down beside her (spiders creeped her out). So when he smiled at her she shivered and ran away, leaving him totally confused.
Etymology: misinterpretation: to interpret, explain or understand correctly + face
Emotionull
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: iˈmō sh ənəl
Sentence: Rudy is the perfect person to work the exchange desk. He is absolutely emotionull. He doesn*t get rattled by angry, screaming customers because doesn*t understand those feelings. He never learned to read expressions. To him jovial looks just the same as irate. He has been taught to tense certain muscles in his face when working. He has been told that doing this looks something like a smile and that it will help in his job. Most of his clients leave semi-satisfied but creeped out by the look on his face.
Etymology: emotional (arousing or characterized by intense feeling) + null (lacking distinctive qualities; having no positive substance or content)
Misinterpotato
Created by: purpleartichokes
Pronunciation: miss-in-tur-pah-tay-toe
Sentence: My boss is one of those people who has a permanent grin affixed to his face, which is why I always find myself in hot water for committing misinterpotato.
Etymology: misinterpret, potato (slang for head), Mr. Potato Head (a toy with easily discernable facial expressions)
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
I like this one, too. Silly, but descriptive. - Clayton, 2007-05-09: 19:00:00
Thanks. I had words that would probably be better liked by the consensus, but this one looked like misterpotato(head). I love Mr. Potatohead! And I loved the way it sounded. Mis-in-ter-po-ta-to. It's benign and semi-comical (in my humble potato-head's opinion). - purpleartichokes, 2007-05-09: 20:14:00
----------------------------
Cuepid
Created by: mrskellyscl
Pronunciation: cue-pid
Sentence: Cupid's arrows never came to Rick because he was too cuepid to see that Cindy was giving him her "come hither" look. Thinking she was about to sneeze, he pulled out his H1N1 mask, hand sanitizer and his pocket pack of Lysol before heading toward the bar, leaving her quite puzzled.
Etymology: cue: signal, prompt, hint + stupid: lacking common sense, perception or normal intelligence
----------------------------
COMMENTS:
cuete word - Nosila, 2009-11-25: 23:06:00
----------------------------
Comments:
Today's definition was inspired by Cory Doctorow's short story "I, Row-Boat", where a sentient, and very sensitive Row-Boat has some difficulty reading a woman's facial expressions. See the full story in Overclocked. Thank you Cory! ~ James
MIENBLIND is very good- and far more cerebral than my entry. Good work, Ozziebob.
MaybeLater_x - 2008-08-19: 19:10:00
Visagenary is also a play on Imaginary, nay?
Today's definition was suggested by doctorow. Thank you doctorow. ~ James
ldikarev - 2012-09-06: 16:44:00
ldikarev - 2012-09-06: 16:45:00
Prosopagnosia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia (Greek: "prosopon" = "face", "agnosia" = "not knowing") is a disorder of fa