Thursday, January 12, 2006

Truthiness Voted 2005 Word of the Year by American Dialect Society

"In its 16th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted truthiness as the word of the year. First heard on the Colbert Report, a satirical mock news show on the Comedy Channel, truthiness refers to the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true. As Stephen Colbert put it, 'I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart.'

Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as 'vocabulary item'?not just words but phrases. The words or phrases do not have to be brand new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year, in the manner of Time magazine?s Person of the Year. The election is serious, based on members' expertise in the study of words, but it is far from solemn."

Other winners include : podcast, "jump the couch"

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