Pluto is finally getting some respect - from
wordsmiths.
"Plutoed'' was chosen 2006
Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting on
Friday.
To "pluto'' is "to demote or
devalue someone or something'' much like what
happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the
International Astronomical Union decided
Pluto did not meet its definition
of a planet.
"Our members believe the
great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the
importance of Pluto as a name,'' said society president Cleveland Evans. "We
may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection
with the former planet.''
"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.''
Other words in the running:
murse (man's purse), flog (a fake blog that promotes products) and macaca (an
American citizen treated as an alien).
Former Senator George
Allen, a Republican who sought reelection last year, was comfortably ahead in
polls until August, when he referred to the son of Indian immigrants as macaca,
regarded by some as a racial slur. Allen lost to Democrat Jim Webb.
The 117-year-old
organization includes linguists, grammarians, historians and independent
scholars. In conducting the vote, members do so for fun and not in any official
capacity of inducting words into the English language.
Last month, an online
survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster declared "truthiness'' the word
of the year for 2006. "Truthiness'' was credited to television satirist Stephen
Colbert, who defined it as "truth that comes from the gut, not books.''
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