The WØRD OF THE YEAR!

The word of the year (as voted by the American Dialect Society), is a word which mixes humor and politics: truthiness. The word has been the talk of the year in the media and the blogosphere.

In case, you have never heard it, “thruthiness” is a word coined by Stephen Colbert on his most excellent satirical show "The Colbert Report", a spinoff of The Daily Show that basically parodies right-wing political pundit TV shows (notably The O’Reilly Factor) in October 2005.

So according to Colbert, “truthiness” is the truth you feel "from the gut", regardless of the facts (because “facts change”) rather than the truth you know, or you read in books or dictionaries. If you want to know what exactly Colbert means by “Truthiness”, watch the segment below. It’s a riot. The word has caught on of course, as it defines so well the politics of the Bush administration.
More to read on "Truthiness" here or here.

NOTE: by the way, it is "The Coal-BEAR Re-PORE", as Colbert insists on using the French pronuniciation of his name and he then leaves the t sound off “Report” to match the pronunciation of his surname, (but will often overpronounce the t in other uses of the word - most commonly as in "a Colbert Report Special Report") see this great video of his exchange with Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton on the French pronunciation.

NOTE (bis) : Other Words of the Year: 1993: information superhighway; 1994: cyber, morph (to change form); 1995: web, newt (to act aggressively as a newcomer); 1996: Mom (as in soccer mom); 1997: millennium bug; 1998: e- (as in e-mail); 1999: Y2K, 2000: chad (from the 2000 Presidential Election controversy in Florida); 2001: 9-11; 2002: weapons of mass destruction (WMDs); 2003: metrosexual; 2004: red state, blue state, purple state (from the 2004 presidential election).