the year of the truthiness

December 9, 2006 3:40 PM

Merriam-Webster's 2006 Word of the Year is NOT in their online dictionary. Officially coined on October 17, 2005, it had already won the American Dialect Society's 2005 Award _(pdf) where they claim that "other meanings of the word date as far back as 1824", and is probably a shoe-in for for the Banished Words of 2007 list.

A distant number 2 is our friend "the goog", and after that, it's all NewsFilter/PoliticsFilter/IraqFilter (with that all-time classic "war" at #4).
(From the MeFite who posted the Favorite Words of 2004 and the Banished Words List in 2003 and 2004)
posted by wendell (48 comments total)

Going back and looking at those old banned word lists provides an interesting snapshot of trends - and the reactions to them. It seems that in 1990 it was really annoying to use "fax" as a verb, such as "I'll fax you that memo when I get to the office." Now it's just part of the vernacular.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 3:50 PM on December 9, 2006

I guess it was kind of the same as saying "Yo! PDF me a copy of that document, dawg."
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 3:52 PM on December 9, 2006

Banished Words of 2007, courtesy of Lake Superior State University.

I guess it was kind of the same as saying "Yo! PDF me a copy of that document, dawg."

Except fax is a transmission system as much as a document format. It's more like saying "SMTP me a PDF of that document, dawg."
posted by public at 4:00 PM on December 9, 2006

Eschew obfuscation!
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 4:02 PM on December 9, 2006

Don't kick me, wendell, but the term is shoo-in.
posted by rob511 at 4:11 PM on December 9, 2006

*kicks self for dumb error, throws shoe at rob511 for pointing it out*
posted by wendell at 4:14 PM on December 9, 2006

That top ten list at Merriam-Webster is pretty to the point:
1. truthiness 2. google 3. decider 4. war 5. insurgent 6. terrorism 7. vendetta 8. sectarian 9. quagmire 10. corruption
All they need is "minor" and they're set.
posted by anthill at 4:16 PM on December 9, 2006

No stephencolbert tag?
posted by quin at 4:37 PM on December 9, 2006

It seems that in 1990 it was really annoying to use "fax" as a verb

Maybe in da U.P. it was. We were using it as a thoroughly unremarkable verb when I worked in advertising in New York in the mid-80s. As well as the now-obsolete telex (which for some reason was what we had to use to reach Japan, even though Japan invented the fax before World War II).

Anyway, while I hail "truthiness" (and I bet it becomes smudged as a word long before it becomes banished), I'm baffled by anyone voting for banal words like "war" or "terrorism". Somehow, I don't think they're phrasing the question right.
posted by dhartung at 4:41 PM on December 9, 2006

I think there's certain justice in google appearing second on the list. Especially as Google really doesn't want people to use their company name as a verb. Remember: you do not google, you conduct a Google(TM) search.
posted by slimepuppy at 4:46 PM on December 9, 2006

Google that picture then Photoshop it. And PDF it after you fax it.
posted by The Deej at 4:50 PM on December 9, 2006

Remember: you do not google, you conduct a Google(TM) search.

Of course not! Then you could google something on Yahoo.

Got a kleenex? Er, I mean Do you have a Kleenex (tm) brand facial tissue paper slice/sheet/page?
posted by Balisong at 4:58 PM on December 9, 2006

Yeah, they're right next to my generic brand of self-adhesive medical bandages.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:12 PM on December 9, 2006

I think the difference between Kleenex and Google is that people only "google" with Google. They don't conduct other web searches and call them googling, they use Google and call it googling.
posted by null terminated at 5:19 PM on December 9, 2006

I'm not sure how true that is null terminated. I use several search engines, but for brevity I tend to tell other people I'm 'googling' whatever it is I'm searching for. My parents are more likely to understand when I tell them I'm googling something than 'searching with dogpile'...
posted by slimepuppy at 5:34 PM on December 9, 2006

From the banned words list, I don't think surreal is overused;

surreal: marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream

My intense irrationality meters have been registering real high lately. Seems to me things is getting pretty damned surreal, and getting surrealer at an increasing pace.
posted by MetaMonkey at 5:45 PM on December 9, 2006

Obligatory YouTube link to Truthiness segment of the Colbert Report.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:50 PM on December 9, 2006

dhartung: Anyway, while I hail "truthiness" (and I bet it becomes smudged as a word long before it becomes banished)...

Speaking of co-opting the opposition's vernacular, I periodically overhear snatches of the Rush Limbaugh show in a co-worker's office; he (Limbaugh) uses "strategery" like it's a real word. I'm impressed anew by the tactic each time I hear it.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 5:56 PM on December 9, 2006

Well, I nominate "sooner rather than later" and "thanks for that" - two cliches that have recently appeared out of nowhere in the vernacular, and should just as quickly leave.
They're just fluff words- what was wrong with just "soon" and "thanks"?
posted by Flashman at 6:20 PM on December 9, 2006

Actually Google doesn't care if people use "Google" as a verb, as long as they don't say something like "I googled it on alltheweb". In other words, as long as they use it to mean "to search on google".


Going back and looking at those old banned word lists provides an interesting snapshot of trends - and the reactions to them. It seems that in 1990 it was really annoying to use "fax" as a verb, such as "I'll fax you that memo when I get to the office." Now it's just part of the vernacular.

I hope that doesn't mean people will use "office" as a verb ten years from now.

As an aside: what is the deal with business fetishists wanting to verb things all the time?
posted by delmoi at 8:15 PM on December 9, 2006

Isn't this the second or third time that some organization has identified "truthiness" as "Word of the Year"?
posted by cribcage at 8:21 PM on December 9, 2006

Doofus Magoo : he (Limbaugh) uses "strategery" like it's a real word.

I refer the term stragedy, but I'm the only one I know who uses that.
posted by quin at 9:10 PM on December 9, 2006

I don't get to watch the Colbert Report to see how they use 'truthiness,' but I like the idea of it, however much the idea also scares me. First it's a jest, then it becomes popular, and perhaps over time ubiquitous, all the while its connotations smear all over the meanings of 'truth' and 'falsity.' I doubt that it would be the next 'cool', but 'truthiness' has a potent resonance with me and I instantly perceive broad utility. What begins as a mockery of the false premises, delusion, cognitive dissonance, and lies which have caused so much real pain and suffering, may end in justification. After all, desire and fear are visceral and urgent; understanding and wisdom require discipline, humility and constant, deliberate practice. Even then we can only approximate what we call 'truth,' and so 'truthiness' is all we actually have.

"Your truthiness will set you free." "Do you solemnly swear to tell your truthiness, your whole truthiness, and nothing but your truthiness?" "My truthiness? You can't handle my truthiness!" "We hold our truthinesses to be self-evident, that all men (and their truthinesses) are created equal,..."

Perhaps people are too much of the notion of truth as 'TRVTH,' as an unquestionable dogma—a notion well deserving of extinction by a plague of ridicule. If so, I must have faith that a species of 'truth' as an ideal to be imitated, as an asymptote to be approached, as a light by which we see, will survive.
</pithyfilter>
posted by wobh at 9:59 PM on December 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

As an aside: what is the deal with business fetishists wanting to verb things all the time?

When the word describing something is also a prime example... welcome to Recursiville!!! My head hurts.

Isn't this the second or third time that some organization has identified "truthiness" as "Word of the Year"?

I thought it was strange that the "American Dialect Society" had picked it for 2005, when it had only started to catch on. According to Wikipedia, those are the only two places that have recognized it - so far. (And the Wik had the news of the new award before I posted it here... I was considering including that Wik link in the FPP, but thought better of it... I also put _(pdf) as a _subscript instead of a ^superscript, to avoid another derail. Little things mean a lot.)
posted by wendell at 10:16 PM on December 9, 2006

"Your truthiness will set you free." "Do you solemnly swear to tell your truthiness, your whole truthiness, and nothing but your truthiness?" "My truthiness? You can't handle my truthiness!" "We hold our truthinesses to be self-evident, that all men (and their truthinesses) are created equal,..."

Bravo, wobh, but you forgot "The truthiness is out there."

There's another quotation that needs to be changed: "There are four kinds of lies; white lies, damned lies, statistics and truthiness."
posted by wendell at 10:26 PM on December 9, 2006

Remember: you do not google, you conduct a Google(TM) search.

JFCAGSFI
posted by bwg at 3:17 AM on December 10, 2006

Great, MetaFilter ate my ampersand and pound and screwed up the acronym.
posted by bwg at 3:20 AM on December 10, 2006

I would have voted for Astro Zombie's masterpiece: malcompetence.
posted by exon at 6:32 AM on December 10, 2006

exon, I've been trying to spread "malcompetence" far & wide. I had, however lost track of its origin. Thanks for pointing it out again. It's a coinage of Shakespearian quality.

The verbing that's really driven me crazy over the last couple of years is "action." As in "Can you action this for me?" What ever happened to Do?
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:16 AM on December 10, 2006

malcompetence is good, and I like stragedy, too.

which words catch on and which ones seem pointless seems partly a question of the intent of the user. The bizspeak coinages almost always seem like truly transparent attempts to appear active and productive - like hairstyles and tailors and the brand of car you drive, it is so heavily focused toward image and away from content that I tend to forget it may have actual content at all. The way you dress does have some level of impact, and the way you dress your words has an effect as well... It's just that I wish people would start from the inside, so to speak.

The words which are really embraced are the ones which allow us to express a new concept or activity specifically, something which otherwise would have been more complicated to say. To "google" something is useful because "search" can mean looking for things in the real world, not just online, and before google most search engines were affiliated with other services but when google began they were nothing but a blank page, a logo, and a search function. "truthiness" pinned down a general idea that was floating around, and gave us a way to refer to it without having to quote memos about the 'reality based community' etc...
posted by mdn at 11:42 AM on December 10, 2006

what is the deal with business fetishists wanting to verb things all the time?

The verbing that's really driven me crazy...

LOL! Y'all just verbed verb! Oh and so did I!
posted by The Deej at 11:44 AM on December 10, 2006

Uh, forgive me for being dense - so is truthiness the same thing as spurious(ness) or specious(ness)?
posted by porpoise at 12:26 PM on December 10, 2006

As an aside: what is the deal with business fetishists wanting to verb things all the time?

When the word describing something is also a prime example... welcome to Recursiville!!! My head hurts.

You know, every time I have seen someone verb the word "verb" it has been a joke. Including this time.
posted by grouse at 2:54 PM on December 10, 2006

A JOKE??? NO WAY!!!!!!!
posted by The Deej at 3:12 PM on December 10, 2006

Deej, we joked him.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:17 PM on December 10, 2006

I was seriousing about people verbing, now I got joked!
posted by The Deej at 3:41 PM on December 10, 2006

I was responding to delmoi and wendell, as you can see from the quoted context.
posted by grouse at 3:44 PM on December 10, 2006

Dammit!!!! Now I got contexted!!!!! When will this nightmare stop nightmaring?
posted by The Deej at 4:03 PM on December 10, 2006

As soon as I stop lol'ing out loud.
posted by grouse at 4:07 PM on December 10, 2006

"Perhaps people are too much of the notion of truth as 'TRVTH,' as an unquestionable dogma—a notion well deserving of extinction by a plague of ridicule."

Sometimes, despite the academic theories of certain overwrought French philosophers, there is such a thing as 'THE TRUTH', independent of any human attempts to comprehend or express it.
posted by Sukiari at 6:01 PM on December 10, 2006

"Can you action this for me?" What ever happened to Do?

I task you to find out.
posted by dreamsign at 7:39 PM on December 10, 2006

'Beauty is truthiness, truthiness beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
posted by TwoWordReview at 3:50 AM on December 11, 2006

posted by grouse: I was responding to delmoi and wendell, as you can vision from the quoted context.

Fixed that for ya.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:58 PM on December 11, 2006

I'm sorrying for inappropriating my word use.
posted by grouse at 2:11 PM on December 11, 2006

Yeah, can you text me that info you actioned when you feel like wording?
posted by The Deej at 2:45 PM on December 11, 2006

Isn't this the second or third time that some organization has identified "truthiness" as "Word of the Year"?

Doesn't it feel that way?
posted by sonofsamiam at 2:50 PM on December 11, 2006

Yeah, they have word-of-the-yeared "truthiness" several time.
posted by The Deej at 3:06 PM on December 11, 2006

s
posted by The Deej at 3:06 PM on December 11, 2006