TV Words of the Year: Truthiness and Wikiality


The word trend group Global Language Monitor announced that the words "truthiness" and "wikiality" are TV's Buzzwords of the Year. Both words were coined by comedian Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report.

The word-trend group Global Language Monitor, in its annual survey of words from television that had an impact on the language, also cited the words "Katrina," referring to continuing stories about the hurricane's destruction; "Katie," a reference to Katie Couric's move into the nightly news anchor role at CBS News; and "Dr. McDreamy," a nod to a character on the breakout hit "Grey's Anatomy." The doctor is played by Patrick Dempsey and follows in a long line of television "dreamboat" physicians. The survey was released to coincide with Sunday night night's presentation of the Emmy Awards, American television's highest honors.

Global Language Monitor defined "truthiness" as used by Colbert as meaning "truth unencumbered by the facts." "Wikiality," derived from the user-compiled Wikipedia information Web site, was defined as "reality as determined by majority vote," as when astronomers voted Pluto off their list of planets last week.

Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, said, "Some of these buzzwords will quickly pass while others will be embedded in the language for years to come. Global Language Monitor analyzes trends in word usage and word choices and their impact on the various aspects of culture.

They say that a living language such as English is constantly growing and expanding. But it seems to us that at this rate English will be totally unrecognizable in one hundred years -- maybe less.