5 years of "truthiness"

[Ronald Butters]

Good job, Ben!  I clearly missed something that Allan Metcalf didn't. The power of the media has actually legitimized a self-conscious stunt word (or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the stunt morpheme "-iness"). At least it is one that has some use, enough so that it has become productive. Congratulations to Colbert, Metcalf, Michael Adams, and the ADS.

On Oct 15, 2010, at 1:37 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 10:37 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>> 
>> My latest On Language column celebrates the fifth anniversary of Stephen
>> Colbert's (re)invention of "truthiness." I look back on the '05 ADS WOTY
>> vote and quote our esteemed colleagues Allan Metcalf and Ron Butters.
>> 
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17FOB-onlanguage-t.html

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