MadMania

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hemiasinate

v., HEM-ee-ASS-uh-NATE, to do something poorly or shoddily as a result of a lack of care or effort.

I created this word to replace another word. You probably know the word I mean. The etymology of hemiasinate is meant to be a literal translation of that word, from the root words hemi, meaning half, and asinus, from the Latin word for donkey.

There appears to be only one existing word that concisely sums up the definition above.

I searched a long time to find another existing word that would express this concept, but all fall short. ‘Shoddy’ just doesn’t carry enough weight, and you can do your best and still do something shoddily. Besides, how would you verbify it? Shoddle? Shoddify makes it sound like something was previously done well and you made it shoddy.

Heather suggested ‘half-diddly-done,’ an homage to Ned Flanders’s tirade from the Simpsons episode Hurricane Neddy. However I feel it takes the sting out what the term should describe–kind of like calling suicide bombers ‘splodeydopes.’

 

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