"Astroturf"

[Jim Parish]

The word "astroturf" has come into use in political commentary to refer
to orchestrated letter-writing campaigns, intended to simulate
grassroots activity. It may be extending its range, though; I just ran
across a use of the term in the context of book reviews. The relevant
sentence (ellipsis and emphasis original):

"Now *that's* an interesting approach, to me... and one I very
occasionally use, though more to separate the astroturf from the 'real'
reviews."

Jim Parish

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org