Is Truthiness a word?

Question

OK me and my friend are fighting about whether truthiness is a word or not. He says that no, truthiness is not a word it is just a word that Steven Corbear made up one day. But, my English teacher told me that truthiness was voted word of the year, so I think it is a word. I keep telling my friend, how can something be WORD of the year if it's not a word? So, I was just wondering is truthiness a word or not, and who is right me or my friend? Thanks!!

Answer 1

If you don't win money, don't get too bent out of shape about it. Use it like as a word ten times a day around your friend just to get under his skin. Just don't scrabble it cause you know the rules on that. Hey! new words got to come from somewhere, right?

Answer 2

Many words are created by people, and this happens all the time. Some words gain popular currency, and thereafter get accepted by some dictionaries after which they become universal.
Many answerers have given the background for this word, and it is likely that it would find place in dictionaries all over the world. After all, language was created by people for the people, and so some words die, some get born and some undergo meaning change over the years.
In respect of truthiness, I personally think that when we have truth, truthful and truthfulness, there wouldn't be a need for an additional word. I think this word currently has limited acceptance.

Answer 3

truthiness

The quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.

Origin: Stephen Colbert, "The Colbert Report," 2005

"And that brings us to tonight's word: truthiness.

"Now I'm sure some of the Word Police, the wordanistas over at Webster's, are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word.' Well, anybody who knows me knows that I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn't true, or what did or didn't happen. Who's Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was finished in 1914? If I wanna say it happened in 1941, that's my right. I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart."

That Fox News report didn't have all of the facts, but it had a certain truthiness to it.

Answer 4

Truthiness is a satirical term coined by television comedian Stephen Colbert[1] to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts (similar to the meaning of "bellyfeel", a Newspeak term from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four). Colbert created this definition of the word during the inaugural episode (October 17, 2005) of his satirical television program The Colbert Report, as the subject of a segment called "The WØRD". It was named word of the year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society and for 2006 by Merriam-Webster.

Answer 5

yes, truthiness is a word. It was awarded the "Word of The Year" in 2006 by Meriam-Webster(which are the ones who created the Webster's dictionary)

You are correct!

Answer 6

It's under dispute - look at this article - no mention of it being a word of the year.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/truthiness

Answer 7

It's as much a word as gruntled. Neither is accepted in formal usage.

Sheesh! The spell checker here won't even accept might've as a contraction for might have.

Answer 8

Not really. But maybe it will be if you use it as one long enough. It's kind of like "thoughty", which seems a nice and fun way to express what most folks mean when they say "thoughtful."

Answer 9

uh... webster says no...so i dont think so.
a lot of words like 'xerox' and 'googling' become words 'cuz theyre used often...so it may be in the unabridged dictionary...or the dictionary authors may add it someday... who knows? maybe fergalicious might end up there too :)

Answer 10

If it's in Websters Dictionary it is indeed a word. If not, it's simple slang.