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 on Dec 9, 2006 - View this thread

It isn't the circus YOU remember... Why would the head of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey hire a former top CIA honcho to torment a hapless freelance writer for eight years? Plus, some goodies on the Felds family - makes for a long but interesting read... Interesting... I always knew there was a reason people feared clowns but now it seems you need to fear the circus??? What has the world come to, I ask you???
posted on Aug 30, 2001 - View this thread