Huntiness.

[tablesaw]

I'm in Massachusetts. I'm driving to Boston tomorrow in a flashy yellow rental car. Then my girlfriend and I will solve and win the MIT Mystery Hunt.

But I also wanted to make a comment about the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year: truthiness. Now, I was watching the Colbert Report when the word was coined, but it dropped out of site pretty quickly, I thought. It was surprising to see it get noted again at the end of the year, especially taking a spot above the much more widespread podcast.

Still, I saw someone mention that the word wouldn't be much use, except in ironic contexts, and I thought it would be good to point out a word coined for similar purposes.

Factoid is from 1973, first explained, if not coined, by Norman Mailer. "Factoids ... that is, facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority." [N. Mailer, "Marilyn," 1973] —Online Etymology Dictionary.

I expect a big future for truthiness as well.

Comments

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

Have you watched TCR in the last week? He's been doing reactions to the "award" and they are hysterical.

[duchez.livejournal.com]

Have fun during the Hunt!

[cazique.livejournal.com]

it's funny - i'm not a TCR watcher (though I should be, I think it's just laziness that we haven't added it to our Tivo schedule), but I can't recall hearing or seeing the word. not once. ever.

podcast seems a much better choice for WotY to me. truthiness sounds somewhat like a Bushism - but, one that, though it sounds silly on first hearing, actually makes some sense as a usable word. sort of like misunderestimate.

hmmm, Bushism. that oughta be in the mix somewhere too.

[queen-elvis.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I hope you're wrong, but human nature suggests otherwise.