Pluto's revenge: 'Word of the Year' award (would love to see WH Plutoed)

[rodeodance]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/07/word.of.the.year/index.html

Pluto's revenge: 'Word of the Year' award
POSTED: 2:37 p.m. EST, January 7, 2007
Story Highlights
• American Dialect Society chooses "plutoed" over "climate canary"
• "Macaca moment" another strong contender for honors
• ADS voted for "Word of the Year" and other categories at annual meeting

(CNN) -- Pluto may no longer be a planet, but it has a new claim to fame: "Plutoed" has been chosen 2006 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society.

The society defined "to pluto" as "to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto no longer met its definition of a planet."

The former planet had some tough competition in the voting, which took place Friday at the ADS' annual meeting, held in Anaheim, California.

"Plutoed" won in a runoff against "climate canary," defined as "an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon."

[rodeodance]

1. (Read the full list of winners for 2006

In the "Most Euphemistic" category, the winner was "waterboarding," defined as "an interrogation technique in which the subject is immobilized and doused with water to simulate drowning."

The ADS has been choosing Words of the Year since 1990. The Word of the Year for 2005 was "truthiness," invented by Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," and defined by the ADS as "what one wishes to be the truth regardless of the facts." (Read the full list of winners for 2006 and past yearsexternal link) http://www.americandialect.org/

Winning words or phrases don't have to be brand new; what's important is that they gained new prominence in the past year.

The society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and includes academics, writers, and others.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Hopefully some of Dimson's signing orders

will now be "plutoed" quite aside from his staff.