Truthiness morphing

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On May 8, 2007, at 7:21 AM, David Bowie wrote:

> [quoting] It’s not a simple
>    Yes/No but a sliding scale of (with apologies to Stephen
>    Colbert) 'spaminess'.
>
> I would have probably spelled it "spamminess" myself, but it's
> interesting to see "-iness" being used actively to mean something like
> "something like this noun, but not exactly like it" with an overt
> nod to
> the Colbert Report.

in my Language Log posting on "truthiness", "faminess", and
"referenciness" --

   http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004260.html

-- i called this the "Colbert suffix".  i wondered there whether
"justiciness" might soon be coined.  one reader provided me with what
would be an instance of justiciness, but the only hit for the word i
get (besides my discussion) is one that cites my discussion: the
blogger Shinga cites me on referenciness, adding:

To borrow further from Zwicky, there would be a certain justiciness
is seeing this nonsense exposed for what it is.

   http://breathspakids.blogspot.com/2007/02/why-igg-testing-for-food-
intolerance-is.html

arnold

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