I’ll verb whatever I want to

Long ago, Tantalus turned into a verb: if something tempts you but you’re never allowed to have it, it is tantalizing you. Well, I hereby declare the verbing of Sisyphus, henceforth to be used for tasks which undo themselves every time you finish them.

As you might guess, this is because I’m being sisyphized by something right now. And not just in the usual laundry-and-dishes sense.

(Ixionizing, I suppose, would be when something goes round and round without ever getting anywhere at all, like a hamster on a wheel. Or, well, Ixion. On his wheel.)

0 Responses to “I’ll verb whatever I want to”

  1. la_marquise_de_

    Oh, I love that. My WiP is definitely sisyphising me.

  2. zunger

    So why is it that the word “sisyphized” sounds so much naughtier than the others?

  3. kendokamel

    I like this idea very much

  4. mmegaera

    An excellent pair of new word coinings, I must say.

    I am perpetually being sisyphized and ixionized [sigh].

  5. ozziel

    I don’t know, sounds like charliework to me…

  6. thespisgeoff

    Do we have to verb it? It’s been adjectivized – sysiphean, which is one of my favorite words ever. IS THAT NOT ENOUGH?

    Sysiphized is phonetically too close to sissified – and…now I’m about to go on a rant against a word deriving from “sister” coming to mean “weak” and “helpless,” so I should stop now and finish my last cup of cofee.

  7. tchernabyelo

    And presumeably “prometheized” means having your liver torn out by eagles every day, only to have to grow back each night.

    Hmm. Possibly something less literal.

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