pluto
phoenix
"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."
The runner-up was "macaca" or "macaca moment," defined as "treating an
American citizen as an alien" -- a reference to a campaign remark by
former Virginia Sen. George Allen that some say marked the beginning of
the end for his re-election hopes.
Also in the running for Word of the Year were YouTube; surge (referring
to a large, but brief, increase in troop strength); and flog ("a fake
blog created by a corporation to promote a product or a television
show").
Like any good awards show, the ADS meeting had multiple categories.
In the "Most Unnecessary" category, "SuriKat" (the supposed nickname of
the baby girl of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) beat out "the decider,"
President Bush's description in April of his position in relation to
whether Donald Rumsfeld kept his job as secretary of defense.
The "Most Outrageous" award went to "Cambodian accessory," defined as
"Angelina Jolie's adopted child who is Cambodian."
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 years)
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.