Word of the Year

Online Voters Name "Truthiness" 2006 Word of the Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 11, 2006 - 3:54pm.

Springfield, Mass. - Merriam-Webster OnLine announced on Monday that Web voters have named "truthiness" the dictionary's Word of the Year for 2006. Comedian Stephen Colbert coined the word in October 2005 on his Comedy Central show, "The Colbert Report," defining it as, "truth that comes from the gut, not books." Merriam-Webster, which this year turned to online voting instead of tallying the most frequently looked up words on its website to choose its Word of the Year, said that voters chose 'truthiness' by an overwhelming 5-to-1 majority. "I think there's a serious issue lurking behind the popularity of the word truthiness," said Merriam-Webster president and publisher John Morse.

tags: Word of the Year | Politics | Marriam-Webster OnLine | Stephen Colbert |

Oxford Dictionary Names "Podcast" 2005 Word of the Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 6, 2005 - 8:29am.

New York - The editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary announced on Tuesday that they have selected "podcast" as the Word of the Year for 2005. Defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player," the word will be added to the next online update to the dictionary due in early 2006. Runners-up included "bird flu," "IED," "persistent vegetative state," "reggaeton" and "rootkit." "Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept," said editor in chief Erin McKean. "This year it's a completely different story. The word has finally caught up with the rest of the iPod phenomenon."

tags: Podcast | Oxford Dictionary | Word of the Year |