Published Jan. 7, 2007 in the Hibbing
Daily Tribune
'Truthiness' defines new era of spin
By Aaron J. Brown
As we learned in literature
class, you can determine much about a character by the way he or she
uses
words. You can discern education, origin and general disposition by
whether or
not the character says “going to” or “gonna,” “yes” or “yup,” “person
of girth”
or “fatty.” I like to do the same thing with real life characters, and
one way
to do that is follow words that enter the vernacular, change or grow in
meaning
each year. I could do this by scouring books, web traffic logs and
consulting
with linguists. Instead, I do a Google search in December and find a
dictionary
publisher that does all that for me.
What do you think of that,
English teachers? Heh-heh-heh.
Merriam-Webster recently
released its top words for 2006. Its editors selected the words based
on
responses to an online survey. Overwhelmingly, they say, voters chose
“truthiness” as the word that best represented 2006.
The word “Truthiness” was
first coined by comedian Stephen Colbert in his show “The Colbert
Report.” It
means, according to the American Dialect Society, “preferring concepts
or facts
one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.”
Anyone
who watches cable news networks or watches political debates knows what
this
word is about. When a newsworthy event takes place, two people will be
on
television with completely different interpretations that were
developed long
before the event even took place. I wonder sometimes if cable news
pundits have
a cabinet somewhere with files labeled “Congressman hits on page” and
cross
referenced for party affiliation, gender and whether the page is
underage.
Anyway, that’s truthiness for you and I reluctantly agree that it sums
up the
year.
The number 2 word for 2006 is
“google.” Internet-savvy folks recognize “Google,” the noun, as the web
site
that has become the dominant search engine for web surfers. This year’s
#2 word
is in reference to “google,” the verb, which means to use said search
engine to
look for something. You often hear this in terms of looking up people.
“I
googled my mom and found out that she’s been blogging.” Or, “I googled
myself
and found out that I have the same name as a prominent cannibal.”
The third most influential
word of 2006 is “decider.” I’ll say this for President Bush; he makes
new words
happen. “Decider” comes from a quote in which the president indicated
resolve
in his foreign policy, declaring “I’m the decider.” Though much more
resolute
than saying “person who decides,” “decider” wasn’t exactly a word.
Well, it is
now. Maybe next year’s word will be “messer upper.” I suppose that
would be two
words. I have so much to learn.
The 2005 top word, “refugee,”
did not make this year’s list. I remember making the comment that any
year that
features “refugee” as a top word is a pretty bad year. Well, I had no
idea.
This year’s list, while free of refugees, does include “insurgent,”
“terrorism,” “vendetta,” “sectarian,” and “quagmire.” I think the last
year featuring
those words also included the Watergate break-in and the break-up of
Credence
Clearwater Revival. (And THAT is a bad year).
Speaking of Watergate, I now
see that word #10 on the 2006 Merriam-Webster list is “corruption.” I
guess
history really does repeat itself. Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t all
living
in a video game where some neoconservative kid is trying to beat level
five by
destroying the separation of powers during wartime. Maybe he’ll get it
this
time. Keep trying, kid. Watch out for the disgruntled insiders in the
FBI; that’s
what got you last time.
If you want more information,
you better google truthiness. But don’t ask me; I’m not the decider.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.
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