Plutoed!

Fibonacci · Post by **Fibonacci** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:01 pm

(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."

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.

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:53 am

I'm actually relieved they chose "Plutoed" as opposed to all of the other candidates...I thought the others sounded rather lame.

Hopefully next year something else that actually has a ring to it will be chosen...

Funny thing is, is that it has of yet to be incorporated into Wikipedia or other word processing databases...If any of you wish to do the honors at wikipedia.

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:57 am

I kinda like it, its a sciencey way of saying "I've been fired", or "the wife has thrown me out", makes it more romantic or something donnit?

Plutoed, you'll know what it is when it happens to you! :wah:

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:50 am

Hamster;512284 wrote: Yeah but would it really fit into a blues song??

Good point, I will attempt to write a delta blues song entitled "I've been plutoed by my baby", we shall see how it turns out! :wah:

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:38 am

Hamster;512527 wrote: Ok I wait to hear that one with eagerness :-3

Erm, OK.

:wah: